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THE 


CENTENNIAL  RECORD 


FREEWILL  BAPTISTS. 


1780-1880. 


DOVER,    N.    H.: 

THE   PRINTING   ESTABLISHMENT. 
I88l. 


Copyright. 


PREFACE. 


It  has  seemed  fitting  to  gather  into  this  permanent  form 
some  of  the  memorials  of  the  Freewill  Baptist  Centenary. 
The  principal  portion  of  the  volume  is  composed  of  papers 
that  were  especially  prepared  to  be  read  at  the  Centennial 
Conference  in  1880,  but  with  the  probability  that  they 
would  be  preserved  in  their  present  shape.  These  include 
the  Conference  sermon,  the  exercises  at  the  meeting  of 
aged  ministers,  and  the  historical  sketches  of  the  mission- 
ary, educational,  anti-slavery,  temperance  and  Sunday- 
school  work  of  the  denomination.  The  others,  excepting 
the  poems  but  including  the  tables  at  the  close  of  the  vol- 
ume, were  primarily  prepared  for  the  book  where  they  now 
first  appear. 

The  papers  have  been  written  by  different  individuals, 
and  although  they  treat  of  branches  of  work  that  were 
closely  related,  yet  it  is  believed  that  repetition  has  been 
in  the  main  avoided,  while  unity  has  been  preserved. 

The  engravings  that  appear  in  the  volume  are  from  orig- 
inal portraits  of  persons  not  now  Hving,  but  who  were 
among  the  esteemed  and  representative  men  of  their  gen- 
eration. The  frontispiece  represents  a  group  of  ministers 
that,  with  the  exception  of  David  Marks  who  immediately 


4  Preface. 

succeeded  them,  were  active  in  the  first  quarter  of  the 
century  that  is  now  closed.  These  are  clustered  about  the 
name  of  Benjamin  Randall,  of  whom  no  actual  portrait 
exists,  but  the  results  of  whose  work  are  immortal. 

The  volume  may  be  regarded  as  a  denominational  hand- 
book, and  as  such  it  will  revive  memories  of  the  past,  be 
of  practical  use  in  the  present,  and  transmit  facts  to  the 
future  student  of  denominational  history. 

In  grateful  recognition  of  the  Providence  that  has 
watched  over  and  guided  the  denomination  in  the  past, 
and  in  the  hope  and  belief  that  the  divine  hand  will  not 
be  withheld  in  the  future,  the  volume  is  commended  to 
those  who  now  inherit  the  blessings  that  have  flowed  from 
the  fathers'  sacrifice  and  toil. 

March,   iS8i. 


CONTENTS. 


The  Freewill  Baptists,  . 

9 

Rev.  J.  M.  Brewster. 

The  General  Conference, 

.      60 

Rev.  G.  H.  Ball,  D.  D. 

Centennial  Hymn,     .... 

•      74 

Mrs.  J.  A.  Lowell. 

Our  Mount  Tabor,   .... 

,      76 

Mrs.  V.  G.  Ramsey. 

Conference  Sermon, 

.      78 

Prof.  B.  F.  Hayes,  D.  D. 

The  Foreign  Mission, 

•     113 

Rev.  J.  M.  Brewster. 

The  Home  Mission,    .... 

•     135 

George  F.  Mosher. 

Educational  Work,  .... 

.     156 

Rev.  W.  H.  Bowen,  d.  d. 

Sunday-School  Work, 

.     167 

Rev.  O.  E.  Baker. 

Contents. 


Temperance, 


Anti-Slavery, 


Publications, 


Rev.  H.  F.  Wood. 


Rev.  I.  D.  Stewart. 


Rev.  I.  D.  Stewart. 


Educational  Institutions, 

Rev.  G.  C.  Watennan. 


Aged  Ministers, 


Rev.  Silas  Curtis. 


178 
191 
203 
213 

234 


Tables  : — 

Denominational  Statistics, 

239 

Yearly  Meetings,     .... 

240 

General  Conferences, 

241 

Anniversaries,          .... 

242 

Foreign  Mission  Society,   . 

243 

Foreign  Missionaries, 

244 

Home  Mission  Society, 

245 

Home  Missionaries, 

246 

Teachers  of  the  Freedmen, 

247 

Churches  Assisted  by  H.  M.  Society,     . 

248 

Education  Society, 

251 

Literary  Institutions, 

252 

Sunday-School  Union, 

253 

Temperance  Society, 

254 

Anti-Slavery  Society, 

25s 

Contents. 


Woman's  Missionary  Society, 

.       256 

Publications,  List  of. 

•       257 

Printing  Establishment,     . 

.       265 

Engravings  : — 

BuzzELL,  Stinchfield,  Colby,  Marks, 

Frontispiece. 

Martin  Cheney, 

30 

George  T.  Day, 

55 

Ebenezer  Knowlton, 

60 

Jeremiah  Phillips,    . 

•       113 

Elias  Hutchins, 

132 

William  Burr, 

204 

HOSEA   OUINBY, 

•       213 

THE  FREEWILL  BAPTISTS. 


'  There  shall  be  an  handful  of  corn  in  the  earth  upon  the  top  of  the 
mountains  ;  the  fruit  thereof  shall  shake  like  Lebanon.'  — Ps.  j2:  i6. 

This  utterance  of  the  royal  Psalmist  finds  an 
illustration  of  the  principle  involved  in  it,  and  per- 
haps even  a  fulfillment,  in  the  existence  and  growth 
of  the  Freewill  Baptists.  It  w'ill  be  the  object  of 
the  writer  in  these  introductory  pages  to  account  for 
their  existence  and  to  trace  their  growth.  The 
trunk  of  the  tree  will  be  this  historical  statement, 
and  the  succeeding  papers  wall  constitute  the 
branches. 

FORMATIVE    INFLUENCES. 

On  Sunday,  Sept.  30,  1770,  at  noon,  there  ap- 
peared a  stranger  slowly  riding  in  the  streets  of 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  and  uttering,  as  he  rode,  the 
words, — "Mr.  Whitefield  is  dead.  He  died  in 
Newburyport  at  six  o'clock  this  morning."  Among 
those  who  heard  this  sad  and  startling  announce- 
ment was  a  young  man,  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
a  resident  of  Newcastle,  an  island  in  the  harbor  a 
few  miles  distant,  but  who  had  come  to  Portsmouth 
on  that  day  to  attend  public  worship.     These  facts, 


10  Centennial  Record. 

as  stated,  constitute  a  focal  point  at  which  influ- 
ences concentrate  and  from  which  they  diverge. 

Omitting  to  mention  the  more  remote  convergent 
influences,  it  will  suffice  to  say  in  reference  to  the 
more  immediate  ones,  that  God  had  raised  up 
George  Whitefield,  the  eloquent  preacher  and  the 
eminent  revivalist  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  had 
commissioned  him  to  do  a  special  and  needed  work. 
In  his  active  and  eventful  life,  he  had  stirred  Eng- 
land in  every  part ;  and  though  dead,  his  influence 
in  that  country  still  lives.  He  had  come  to  Ameri- 
ca seven  times  ;  and  that,  too,  when  the  Atlantic 
was  practically  some  five  times  as  wide  as  it  is 
to-day.  Finding  this  new  land  in  the  stupor  of  a 
dead  religious  formalism,  and  exposed  to  all  the 
evils  resulting  therefrom,  he  traversed  it  from 
Georgia  to  Maine  and  planted  the  seeds  of  spiritual 
life.  His  burning  and  stirring  words  were  freight- 
ed with  solemn  and  precious  truths.  The  seeds 
planted,  watered  with  his  tears,  produced  fruitage. 
The  Methodists,  now  numerous  and  influential, 
came  into  being ;  the  Baptists,  who  had  been  few 
and  scattered,  were  multiplied  and  strengthened  ; 
the  Congregationalists  and  the  Presbyterians,  who 
had  become  staid  and  formal,  were  transformed 
and  quickened,  and  the  call  was  sounded  which 
summoned  the  Freewill  Baptists  to  a  place  among 
the  tribes  of  the  spiritual  Israel,  and  it  was  made 
apparent  that  their  existence  was  necessary.  "The 
wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  blossomed  as  the 
rose." 


The  Freewill  Baf  lists.  ir 

On  Friday,  Sept.  28th,  Mr.  Whitefield  had  con- 
cluded a  series  of  revival  discourses  in  Portsmouth. 
There,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  great  interest  was 
manifest  in  his  work,  and  thousands  flocked  to 
hear  him.  On  Saturday,  he  had  preached  in  Exe- 
ter, and  on  the  night  of  that  day  he  had  repaired  to 
Newburyport  to  spend  the  Sabbath.  As  it  proved, 
with  the  dawning  of  the  day  he  entered  upon  the 
eternal  Sabbath  of  rest.  The  name  of  the  young 
man  mentioned  as  among  those  who  heard  the  in- 
telliiience  of  Mr.  Whitefield's  death  was  Benjamin 
Randall.  He  had  listened  to  the  eloquent 
preacher  several  times,  and  was  one  of  the  hearers 
of  his  last  sermon  in  Portsmouth.  He  had  formed 
a  resolute  purpose  to  resist  his  message  ;  but  the 
news  of  his  sudden  death  was  like  an  arrow  from 
the  quiver  of  the  Almighty  sent  to  his  heart.  He 
resisted  no  longer ;  and  consecrating  his  all  to  the 
Lord  Jesus,  he  found  peace  in  believing,  and  was 
made  partaker  of  the  blessed  assurance  of  adop- 
tion. He  became  the  possessor  of  a  conscious 
Christian  life   and  a  vivid  religious  experience. 

Socially  Mr.  Randall  belonged  to  the  more  com- 
mon walks  of  life.  His  father,  who  bore  the  same 
name  as  the  son,  had  followed  the  sea,  and  he 
had  been  attended  by  the  latter  in  some  of  his  voy- 
ages. The  times  could  not  afford  large  education- 
al advantages.  Randall  was  now  engaged  in  the 
occupation  of  a  sail-maker.  For  a  period  a  few 
years  later,  he  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  for  Ameri- 
can independence.      Soon  after  his  conversion  he 


12  Centennial  Record. 

was  happily  married,  and  he  and  his  wife  became 
members  of  the  church  in  New  Castle,  which  was 
Congregational,  or  of  "the  standing  order,"  as  it 
was  then  known.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  typical 
New  England  church  of  the  period. 

In  the  consideration  of  these  divergent  influences, 
it  is  fitting  to  notice  some  of  the  features  of  the 
character  and  condition  of  the  New  England  church- 
es, to  the  consciousness  of  which  Randall  gradual- 
ly awoke  and  with  which  he  found  himself  antago- 
nistic. As  the  years  passed.  New  England  Puri- 
tanism, which  has  done  much  for  America  and  the 
world,  had  become  bereft  of  many  of  its  more  vital- 
izing and  better  qualities.  Indieed,  it  was  well- 
nigh  a  corpse.  While  it  retained  its  old  and  set 
forms  of  doctrine,  the  clergy  occupied  doctrinal  po- 
sitions all  the  way  from  the  standpoint  of  Calvin  to 
that  of  Pelagius.  Not  a  few  of  those  who  minis- 
tered at  the  altar  were  unconverted  men  who  had 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  sacred  office  as  a 
mere  profession.  A  large  portion  of  the  voting 
members  of  the  churches,  having  become  such 
through  what  was  termed  "  the  half-way  covenant," 
■or  because  they  were  christened  in  infancy,  had 
never  experienced  a  change  of  heart ;  and  persons 
of  intemperate  habits  and  scandalous  lives  came  to 
the  communion.  Every  town  was  a  parish,  over 
which  a  minister  was  settled  for  life ;  and  he  was 
supported  by  a  tax  levied  upon  every  citizen  with- 
out regard  to  religious  belief  or  preference.  This 
tax  was  collected  by  the  same  means,  forcible  if 


The  Freewill  Baftists.  13 

necessary,  as  other  taxes.  The  stern  Calvinistic 
flavor,  which  was  more  commonly  given  to  the 
bread  of  life,  made  it  extremely  unpalatable  to  the 
people  who  were  hungering  for  the  simple  "  milk  of 
the  Word."  The  presence  of  a  gospel  preacher, 
however  worthy,  within  the  limits  of  one  of  these 
town  parishes  was  considered  a  great  intrusion. 
The  state  of  affairs  was  simply  unendurable,  and  a 
reform  was  demanded.  But,  by  the  side  of  this  for- 
bidding picture,  it  must  be  stated  that  there  were  in 
those  days  parishes  in  New  England  to  which  de- 
vout men  ministered  in  the  fear  of  God. 

The  pious  soul  of  Randall  revolted  at  what  he 
saw  and  experienced  in  the  church  in  New  Castle ; 
but  he  was  powerless  to  effect  a  reform  within  it, 
for  the  pastor  and  a  large  majority  of  the  members 
were  against  him.  His  connection  with  the  church 
soon  practically  ceased.  A  careful  and  prayerful 
study  of  the  Word  of  God  led  him  to  embrace  Bap- 
tist sentiments,  and  he  was  soon  baptized  by  Rev. 
William  Hooper  at  Great  Falls,  N.  H.,  and  united 
with  the  Baptist  church  in  Berwick,  Me.,  of  which 
Mr.  Hooper  was  pastor.  He  now  grew  rapidly  in 
Christian  life  and  experience.  From  a  leader  of 
religious  meetings  and  a  reader  of  printed  sermons, 
he  soon  became  a  recognized  preacher  and  gospel 
laborer ;  and  this  advancement  w^as  not  from  any 
design  on  his  part,  but  because  he  must  heed  the 
voice  of  God.  Advancing  step  by  step,  he  entered 
the  open  doors  set  before  him.  Revivals  followed 
his  efforts.     Though  persecutions  attended  him,  he 


14  Centennial  Record. 

went  bravely  forward.  His  fame  spread,  and  he 
was  urged  to  carry  the  message  of  life  to  towns 
comparatively  distant,  and  he  heeded  the  call. 
It  was  now  1778,  and  Randall  w^as  invited  to  lo- 
cate in  the  rural  town  of  New  Durham,  some  forty 
miles  north-west  of  Portsmouth.  Though  the  coun- 
try  was  new,  and  the  people  were  but  few  and 
scattered,  he  accepted  the  invitation  and  removed 
thither  in  March  of  that  year ;  and  there  was  his 
home  until  his  death,  thirty  years  later.  In  his  new 
home  friends  gathered  around  him,  but  fresh  trials 
awaited  him.  It  was  soon  observed  that  he  did  not 
preach  the  sterner  Calvinistic  doctrines  held  and 
promulgated  by  many  of  the  Baptist  preachers  of 
that  day.  When  he  was  asked  why  he  did  not 
preach  the  doctrines  of  predestination,  particular 
election,  limited  atonement  and  final  perseverance 
as  his  brethren  did,  his  simple  reply  was,  "I  do  not 
believe  them."  It  was  during  the  year  1779  that 
this  fierce  controversy  raged,  and  he  was  then  tried, 
adjudged  unsound  and  disfellowshiped.  But  the 
verdict  against  him  was  not  unanimous.  There 
were  at  that  time  in  Eastern  New  Hampshire  and 
Western, Maine  several  Baptist  ministers  who,  with 
their  churches,  entertained  liberal  views  and  who 
sympathized  and  co-operated  with  Randall.  Prom- 
inent among  them  were  Pelatiah  Tingley,  Samuel 
Weeks  and  Daniel  Hibbard  who  afterwards  became 
useful  and  influential  Freewill  Baptist  ministers. 
Randall  w^as  formally  and  publicly  set  apart  to  the 
work  of  the  gospel  ministry  at  New  Durham  on  the 


The  Freewill  Baptists.  15 

5th  of  April,  1780.  Revs.  Tosier  Lord  and  Ed- 
ward Lock,  both  liberal  Baptist  ministers  and  sym- 
pathizers with  Randall,  were  the  officiating  clergy- 
men. As  was  customary  in  those  times,  the  occa- 
sion was  a  notable  one. 

EARLY    YEARS — I780-181O. 

In  his  new  home,  Randall  was  abundantly  use- 
ful. Though  his  necessities  oblifjed  him  to  use  his 
shears  and  ply  his  needle,  for  he  was  a  tailor  by 
trade,  and  sometimes  to  labor  in  his  field,  for  he 
possessed  a  small  farm,  he  found  time  and  oppor- 
tunities to  preach  the  glorious  gospel  both  at  home 
and  abroad.  Kindred  spirits  gathered  around  him 
and  rallied  to  his  support.  The  30th  of  June,  1780, 
was  signalized  as  the  day  on  which  was  organ- 
ized at  New  Durham  a  church  composed  of  seven 
believers,  four  men  and  three  women.  The  Bible 
was  taken  as  their  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and 
articles  of  faith  expressive  of  their  understanding  of 
it,  and  a  covenant  indicative  of  their  views  of  Chris- 
tian obligation,  were  adopted.  The  early  Freewill 
Baptist  churches,  as  well  as  those  recently  organ- 
ized, imitated  this  example.  This  first  church 
took  the  name  of  simply  Baptist.  In  laying  this 
foundation  stone,  the  layers  built  better  than  they 
knew.  That  same  church,  though  subsequently 
reorganized,  still  exists,  and  it  has  long  borne  the 
appropriate  title  of  "the  mother  church"  of  the 
Freewill  Baptists.  The  vine  then  planted  "  ran 
over  the  wall"  and  at  the    close  of  the  year    1780, 


1 6  Centennial  Recoi'd. 

there  were  four  other  churches  in  fellowship  with 
it.  Randall  multiplied  his  labors  and  extended 
them  into  Maine  beyond  the  Kennebec  river,  a 
comparatively  long  distance  for  those  days  of  slow 
locomotion.  As  the  result,  churches  were  in- 
creased and  revival  influences  extended.  In  1790, 
there  were  eighteen  efficient  churches  witli  eight 
ministers  and  about  four  hundred  members.  This 
was  in  spite  of  some  serious  defections,  including 
what  was  known  as  the  Shaker  delusion  which,  at 
one  time,  threatened  great  disaster.  Ten  years  la- 
ter, in  1800,  there  were  fift3^-one  churches,  with 
thirty  ministers  and  an  estimated  membership  of 
two  thousand.  At  the  close  of  the  third  decade,  or 
1810,  which  was  nearly  identical  with  the  death  of 
Randall,  the  churches  had  increased  to  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty,  the  ministers  to  one  hundred  and 
ten  and  the  estimated  membership  to  six  thousand. 
The  denomination  had  gained  a  foot-hold  in  Maine, 
New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  in  all  of  which 
States  Randall  had  proclaimed  the  joyous  message 
of  free  salvation.  It  existed  germinally  in  New 
York,  Ohio  and  Canada.  Revivals  had  been  nu- 
merous and  in  some  instances  powerful.  If,  how- 
ever, the  growth  was  slow,  it  was  nevertheless 
sure.  In  those  days,  it  should  be  remembered,  the 
railroad,  the  telegraph  and  the  religious  and  daily 
newspaper  were  unknown. 

Thus  far,  the  work  had  gone  forward  under  the 
personal  leadership  of  Randall.  He  was  the  in- 
spirer  and  director  in  every  movement,  and  around 


The  Freewill  Baf  lists.  17 

him  all  the  forces  rallied.  Good  and  efficient  men, 
however,  were  raised  up  to  co-operate  with  him. 
Of  these  Pelatiah  Tingley,  especially  in  view  of  his 
age,  attainments  and  character,  long  occupied  a 
foremost  position.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  col- 
lege, and  his  educational  acquisitions  enabled  him 
to  render  great  service  to  the  cause.  He  was  to 
Randall  something  like  Melancthon  to  Luther. 
York  county,  Maine,  was  largely  his  field  of  labor. 
He  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  and  was  universally 
esteemed.  Early  in  the  second  decade,  Jolin  Buz- 
zell,  a  young  man  converted  through  the  direct  in- 
strumentality of  Randall,  consecrated  himself  to 
the  work  of  the  ministry.  At  first  he  promised 
much,  and  the  character  developed  and  the  success 
attained  in  later  years  met  the  expectations  which 
had  been  cherished.  In  1798,  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Parsonsfield,  Me.,  where  he  died  sixty- 
five  years  later.  As  it  proved,  he  was,  more  than 
any  other  one,  qualified  to  lead  in  the  continuation 
of  the  work  which  Randall  had  commenced.  He 
was,  in  his  prime,  a  powerful  preacher  and  a  judi- 
cious leader.  There  were  times,  especially,  when 
he  was  set  for  the  defense  of  the  truth.  Cotempo- 
rary  with  Buzzell,  was  Ephraim  Stinchfield,  of  New 
Gloucester,  Maine.  He  was  devoted  in  piety,  sac- 
rificing in  spirit  and  incessant  in  labors.  During 
his  long  ministerial  career,  he  was  pre-eminently 
the  apostle  to  the  Freewill  Baptist  churches  of 
INIaine.  If  he  occupied  a  plane  somewhat  difierent 
from  that  of  Buzzell  and  was  less  widely  known,  he 


i8  Centennial  Recoi'd. 

was  scarcely  less  useful  and  no  less  beloved.  In 
addition  to  these  able  and  devoted  men,  Zachariah 
Leach  and-  Henry  Hobbs,  of  Maine,  Isaac  Towns- 
hend,  David  Knowlton,  Winthrop  Young  and  Sam- 
uel B.  Dyer,  of  New  Hampshire,  Aaron  Buzzell, 
Nathaniel  Brown  and  Nathaniel  King,  of  Vermont, 
are  worthy  of  honorable  mention.  Noble  and  God- 
fearing men  were  they  all  !  The  early  preachers 
of  the  denomination,  as  a  class,  had  neither  wealth, 
prestige  nor  worldly  wisdom  to  commend  them,  but 
going  forth  in  the  name  and  strength  of  the  great 
Master,  they  told  the  simple  story  of  the  cross  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  carry  conviction  to  the  hearts 
of  sinners. 

The  technically  doctrinal  position  of  Randall 
was  well  defined  almost  from  the  very  commence- 
ment. Especially  was  it  so  after  a  long  spiritual 
struggle  in  his  corn-field,  which  probably  occurred 
near  the  time  of  his  ordination,  and  in  which  he 
was  seemingly  brought  face  to  face  with  God,  and 
was  made  to  "see  light  in  his  light."  The  great 
foundation  principles  of  the  theology  of  the  Free- 
will Baptists,  such  as  the  trinity  in  unity  of  the 
Godhead,  the  fore-ordination  of  God  dependent  upon 
his  fore-knowledge,  the  free  agency  and  sinfulness 
of  man,  the  universality  of  the  atonement,  the  ne- 
cessit}^  of  repentance,  faith  and  regeneration  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  and  the  fixed  character  of  future  re- 
w^ards  and  punishments,  together  with  the  immer- 
sion of  believers  in  water,  as  the  only  Scriptural 
baptism,  have  undergone    no  essential  change  for 


The  Frecurill  Baftists.  19 

one  hundred  years.  The  question  of  open  or 
close  communion  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  for- 
mer as  soon  as  it  was  presented  for  decision.  In 
this,  the  fathers  took  a  position  which  their  children 
are  proud  to  maintain.  This  system  of  doctrines  as 
a  whole  is  peculiar  to  the  Freewill  Baptists  alone. 
The  church  polity  of  Randall  and  his  co-laborers 
was  developed  to  meet  emergencies  as  they  arose. 
From  the  individual  and  local  church,  there  was  an 
association  of  churches  or  the  Quarterly  Meeting, 
which  took  its  name  from  the  frequency  of  its  ses- 
sions. An  association  of  Qiiarterly  Meetings  took 
the  name  of  Yearly  Meeting  for  a  similar  reason. 
Such  were  the  general  facts,  and  it  is  needless  to 
trace  the  development  in  all  its  details.  At  the 
close  of  the  third  decade,  there  were  six  Quarterly 
Meetings  which  constituted  one  Yearly  Meeting. 
It  is  probable  that  the  higher  bodies  were  less 
strictly  advisory  than  at  present.  In  those  early 
days  there  were  church  officers  which  have  since 
become  useless,  and  customs  which  have  now  be- 
come effete.  For  twenty  years  the  churches  of  the 
denomination  recognized  no  other  name  but  that  of 
Baftist  churches.  Other  names  were  applied  to 
Randall  and  his  followers,  some  of  them  in  derision. 
One  of  which,  "Freewillers,"  became  a  tower  of 
strength,  and  was  incorporated  with  "Baptist," 
hence  the  name  "  Freewill  Baptist." 

The  mission  of  the  Freewill  Baptists  was  from 
the  first  reformatory.  Called  into  existence  by  the 
demands  of  the  times,  they  were  bold,  earnest  and 


20  Centennial  Record. 

aggressive.  Calvinism,  as  it  was  then  preached, 
and  an  unsanctified  ministry  supported  by  compul- 
sory taxation,  received  no  mercy  at  their  hands, 
thoujrh  in  their  zeal  to  correct  this  one  class  of 
abuses,  some  of  them  failed  to  appreciate  fully  the 
value  of  sanctified  education  and  the  fact  that  the 
true  gospel  laborer  should  be  sustained.  Wicked- 
ness in  all  its  forms  was  denounced  unsparingly. 
External  opposition  had  to  be  overcome  and  inter- 
nal dissensions  quieted.  The  spirit  of  fanaticism, 
vi^hich  occasionally  manifested  itself,  had  to  be 
quelled.  But  the  thing  of  the  first  importance  was 
to  warn  sinners  to  flee  from  the  "  wrath  to  come." 
Having  gained  a  foot-hold,  and  being  keenly  alive 
to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  they  were  fast  becoming 
prepared  for  the  great  work  of  later  years.  It  is 
impossible  to  give  a  correct  estimate  of  the  charac- 
ter and  work  of  the  fathers  without  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived. 

Eld.  Benjamin  Randall  died  at  his  home  in 
New  Durham,  after  a  lingering  sickness,  Oct.  22, 
1808,  at  the  age  of  59  years.  His  funeral,  conduct- 
ed by  Eld.  John  Buzzell,  was  largely  attended. 
His  death  caused  deep  mourning  and  made  a  great 
vacancy.  Some  have  attempted  a  description  of 
his  person  and  a  delineation  of  his  mental  and  spir- 
itual characteristics,  while  others  have  freely  ac- 
knowledged his  sincerity  and  goodness,  but  have 
questioned  his  ability.  In  the  presence  of  all  such 
attempts  it  is  enough  to  say  that  he  so  walked  with 
God,  whose  servant  he  was,  as  to  leave  his  abiding 


The  Freezvill  Baptists.  21 

impress  upon  the  thoughtful  character  of  thousands 
who  honor  his  name  ;  and  that  he  truly  apprehended 
the  channel  towards  which  the  thoughts  of  the 
whole  Christian  world  would  tend  a  hundred  years 
later.  In  view  also  of  the  times  and  circumstances 
in  which  he  accomplished  his  work,  the  wonder  that 
he  did  so  much  is  greatly  increased  and  intensified. 

THE    "judges  "    PERIOD 181O-183O. 

Not  without  reason,  have  the  years  which  fol- 
lowed the  death  of  Randall,  embracing  two  dec- 
ades, been  denominated  as  the  "Judges"  period  of 
Freewill  Baptist  history.  While  it  was  not  literal- 
ly true  that  "  every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in 
his  own  eyes,"  yet  there  was  a  strong  tendency  in 
that  direction.  The  influence  of  Randall's  person- 
al presence  was  wanting,  and  the  restraining  power 
of  his  counsels  was  no  longer  felt.  As  was  natur- 
al, ambitious  and  restless  spirits  asserted  them- 
selves. The  points  in  teaching  and  practice,  such 
as  opposition  to  sanctified  education  and  the  sup- 
port of  the  ministry,  which  were  erroneous,  were 
made  more  prominent.  Under  the  leadership  of  a  few 
such  men  as  Revs.  Elias  Smith  and  Abner  Jones, 
efforts  were  made  to  break  down  many  of  the  safe- 
guards which  Randall  had  established,  and  to  car- 
ry the  Freewill  Baptists  as  a  body  over  to  the 
Christian  denomination.  The  strong  current  which 
set  in  this  direction  was  very  effectually  stemmed 
by  John  Buzzell  and  others  who  set  themselves 
against  it. 


22  Centennial  Record. 

But  there  was  a  bright  as  well  as  a  dark  side  to 
the  period.  In  it,  some  of  the  men  bearing  the 
most  honored  names  in  the  Freewill  Baptist  minis- 
try for  the  entire  century  first  came  to  notice. 
Among  them  were  George  Lamb,  Peter  Clark,  Jo- 
seph White,  Enoch  Place,  Thomas  Perkins,  Sam- 
uel Burbank,  Clement  Phinney,  Arthur  Caverno, 
Elias  Hutchins,  Herman  Jenkins,  Josiah  Fowler, 
David  Dudley,  John  Stevens,  Richard  M.  Car}-  and 
Hosea  Quinby,  all  of  whom  served  the  cause  faith- 
fully, and  have  gone  to  receive  their  reward. 
There  were  also  others  who  still  remain  to  bless 
the  cause  of  God  by  their  presence  and  counsels. 
The  name  of  nearly  every  one  of  the  men  men- 
tioned is  closely  identified  with  subsequent  Freewill 
Baptist  histor}',  and  most  of  them  were  the  victors 
of  many  conflicts. 

But  the  "Gideon"  of  this  "Judges"  period  was 
John  Colby.  He  was  born  in  Sandwich,  N.  H., 
in  1787.  Some  years  later,  he  removed  w^ith  his 
parents  to  Sutton,  Vt.  There  he  commenced  the 
work  of  an  evangelist  in  1809,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two  years.  Feeling  that  he  was  led  by  impres- 
sions of  duty,  he  undertook  a  long  preaching  tour 
to  Southern  Ohio,  and  even  penetrated  Indiana. 
He  traveled  on  horseback  through  an  unexplored 
region  and  endured  many  hardships.  His  out- 
ward journey  lay  through  southern  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania.  He  returned  by  way  of  Lake  Erie 
and  Niagara  Falls.  He  was  absent  eight  months, 
and  traveled  more   than  three  thousand  miles  ;  and 


The  Freeivill  Baptists.  23 

in  his  absence  he  saw  no  person  whom  he  previous- 
ly knew,  nor  did  he  hear  from  his  home.  From  one 
point  of  view,  this  journey  seems  to  have  been  un- 
necessary and  chimerical,  yet  as  a  matter  of  histo- 
ry, it  is  stated  that,  in  subsequent  years,  Freewill 
Baptist  churches  sprung  up  all  along  his  route. 
Such  are  the  ways  of  Providence  !  Though  strug- 
gling with  feeble  health,  Colby  was  for  a  period  of 
nearly  eight  years  ceaselessly  active.  In  Vermont, 
New  Hampshire,  Maine  and  Rhode  Island,  he 
proclaimed  the  glorious  gospel  with  burning  zeal, 
and  thousands  joyfully  heard  his  message  from 
God.  In  the  last  named  State,  he  was  the  first  to 
preach  Freewill  Baptist  doctrines,  and  he  organized 
the  first  church  in  the  denomination  within  its  lim- 
its, at  Burrillville,  in  December,  181 2.  Until  his 
death  in  1817,  which  took  place  at  Norfolk,  Va., 
whither  he  had  repaired  in  pursuit  of  health, 
Rhode  Island  was,  more  than  any  other  State,  his 
home.  There  are  still  here  and  there  aged  pil- 
grims, who,  in  their  youth,  looked  upon  his  tall 
and  slender  form,  heard  his  burning,  though  per- 
suasive, words,  and  were  impressed  by  his  saintly 
face.  His  name  and  memory  are  among  the  most 
sacred  keepsakes  of  Freewill  Baptist  history. 
Long  may  they  be  cherished  ! 

During  these  two  decades,  from  1810  to  1830, 
there  was  considerable  extension  of  the  borders  of 
the  denomination.  Eli  Stedman  had  removed 
from  Vermont  to  southern  Ohio,  in  1804,  and  at  a 
later  period  David  Dudley,  of  Maine,  and  others 


24  Centennial  Record. 

came  to  his  assistance,  but  the  cause  in  that  State 
subsequently  received  a  severe  check,  by  all  the 
churches,  with  a  few  individual  and  honorable  ex- 
ceptions, going  over  in  a  body  to  another  denomi- 
nation. The  work  was  afterwards  commenced 
afresh  and  was  vigorously  prosecuted.  In  1809,  Na- 
thaniel Brown  removed  from  Vermont  to  Bethany, 
Genesee  County,  New  York.  He  there  planted 
the  first  church  of  the  denomination  in  the  State, 
and  from  this  nucleus,  most  of  the  churches  in 
western  New  York  have  sprung.  The  work  in 
Canada,  which  had  been  commenced  by  Avery, 
Moulton,  and  others,  was  strengthened,  and  gospel 
laborers  from  western  New  York  had  planted 
churches  in  Canada  West.  Freewill  Baptist  doc- 
trines were  also  preached,  and  churches  were  gath- 
ered, in  Nova  Scotia,  Pennsylvania  and  Indiana. 
But  in  no  State,  perhaps,  in  which  the  denomina- 
tion gained  a  foot-hold,  did  the  work  promise  bet- 
ter than  in  Rhode  Island,  where  it  was  commenced 
by  Colby  and,  subsequent  to  his  death,  was  carried 
forward  by  Joseph  White,  of  blessed  memory, 
Reuben  Allen  and  Zalmon  Tobey  and  others. 
Strong  and  deep  foundations  were  laid,  and  they 
still  endure. 

In  1830,  the  denomination  numbered  twenty-one 
thousand  members,  belonging  to  four  hundred  and 
fifty  churches  which  were  embraced  in  thirty  Qj.iar- 
terly  Meetings  and  seven  Yearly  Meetings.  There 
were  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  ministers. 
The    multiplication  of  Yearly   Meetings    rendered 


The  F7'€czuill  Baptists.  25 

necessary  the  existence  of  a  body  which  should  be 
composed  of  representatives  from  them,  and  which 
should  be  empowered  to  speak  in  behalf  of  the  de- 
nomination at  large,  serving  to  bind  it  together, 
and  occupying  to  the  Yearly  Meetings  a  relation 
similar  to  the  one  which  they  occupied  to  the  Qiiar- 
terly  Meetings  and  the  Quarterly  Meetings  to  the 
churches.  This  relation  is  for  the  most  part  advi- 
sory, and  whatever  authority  the  higher  bodies 
have  over  the  lower,  is  such  as  has  been  deleofated 
by  the  lower  to  the  higher.  The  need  felt  and  rec- 
ognized was  supplied  by  the  General  Conference, 
which  was  organized,  and  held  its  first  session,  at 
Tunbridge,  Vt.,  commencing  Oct.  11,  1827.  Nine- 
teen delegates  were  present  from  New  England  and 
one  from  New  York.  Enoch  Place,  who  was,  per- 
haps, the  most  prominent  leader  in  the  movement 
which  culminated  in  the  organization,  was  modera- 
tor, and  Hosea  Quinby,  who  was  just  then  coming 
into  notice,  w^as  clerk.  The  session  was  of  one 
week's  duration,  and  it  was  in  every  particular  a 
success.  Among  its  decisions  was  one  in  favor  of 
ordaining  colored  men  to  the  gospel  ministry. 
This  was  a  fitting  forerunner  of  the  later  anti-slav- 
ery position  of  the  Freewill  Baptists.  With  the 
General  Conference  thus  organized,  the  capstone 
of  the  polity  of  the  denomination  was  laid.  At 
first  the  body  convened  annually,  and  the  second 
and  third  sessions  were  held  at  Sandwich,  N.  H., 
and  Spaffbrd,  N.  Y.  At  these  meetings,  action 
was  taken  which  gave  definite  statement  to  some  of 


26  Centennial  Record. 

the  first  principles  of  Freewill  Baptist  doctrine  and 
polity.  In  all  things  there  were  earnests  of  the  in- 
fluential and  valuable  work  of  the  body  in  later 
3''ears,  in  which  it  has  become  the  great  popular 
gathering  of  the  denomination,  as  well  as  the  delib- 
erative assembly  of  its  chosen  representatives. 

Perceiving  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the 
press,  the  Freewill  Baptists  were  not  slow  to  em- 
ploy this  instrumentality.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  present  centur}^  there  was  not  a  single  relig- 
ious newspaper  published  in  America.  "The  Her- 
ald of  Gospel  Liberty,"  founded  in  1808,  and  edited 
and  published  by  Elias  Smith,  is  claimed  to  have 
been  the  first,  and  it  was,  for  a  time,  patronized  by 
many  Freewill  Baptists.  In  part,  at  least,  for  the 
purpose  of  counteracting  the  evil  influence  of  some 
of  the  views  expressed  in  this  publication,  John 
Buzzell  commenced  at  Parsonsfield,  Me.,  the  issue 
of  "  A  Religious  Magazine,'' which  was  continued 
quarterly  for  two  years.  Its  publication  was  then 
suspended  until  1820,  when  it  was  resumed  and 
continued  for  two  years.  In  1819,  Ebenezer  Chase 
commenced  the  publication  of  "The  Religious  In- 
former," at  Andover,  N.  H.,  and  continued  it  eight 
years.  It  was  issued  at  first  once  in  two  weeks, 
but  afterwards  monthly.  "  The  Freewill  Baptist 
Magazine"  was  issued  from  Providence,  R.  I.,  in 
1826,  and  it  was  continued  two  years  as  a  quarterly 
and  two  years  as  a  monthly.  All  these  publica- 
tions were  in  pamphlet  form,  and,  though  their  cir- 
culation could  not  have  been  extensive,  they  served 


The  Freewill  Baptists.  27 

as  a  valuable  means  of  communication  between  the 
churches,  and  did  much  to  extend  a  knowledge  of 
the  doctrines  and  polity  of  the  denomination.  But 
the  necessity  of  a  weekly  organ  was  felt  and  recog- 
nized ;  and,  in  due  time,  it  was  met.  The  publica- 
tion of  "The  Morning  Star"  was  commenced  at 
Limerick,  Me.,  in  May,  1826.  It  was  undertaken 
by  a  company  composed  of  nine  persons,  eight  of 
whom  were  Freewill  Baptist  ministers.  The  busi- 
ness name  of  the  firm  was  Hobbs,  Woodman  &  Co. 
John  Buzzell  was  the  first  editor  of  the  paper,  and 
Samuel  Burbank  was  his  assistant  and  office  editor. 
William  Burr,  a  young  man  twenty  years  of  age,  a 
native  of  Hingham,  Mass.,  and  who  had  been  em- 
ployed on  "  The  Boston  Traveller,"  was  the  first 
printer.  Some  seven  years  later  the  enterprise  was 
purchased  by  the  denomination,  and  the  paper  was 
removed  to  Dover,  N.  H.,  where  it  is  still  pub- 
lished. These  facts  are  especially  significant  in 
view  of  their  relation  to  subsequent  history. 

With  1830,  the  first  half  century  of  the  life  of  the 
denomination  was  completed.  The  tree  had  been 
planted,  and  its  trunk  had  attained  commendable 
proportions.  The  branches  had  already  begun  to 
spread,  and  the  fruitage  which  had  appeared  gave 
promise  of  rich  harvests  in  later  years.  Among 
the  thing-s  which  had  been  accomplished  was  the 
passage  of  what  was  known  as  the  toleration  act  by 
New  Hampshire  and  some  other  States,  among  the 
provisions  of  which  was  the  making  of  the  support 
of  the  gospel  to  depend  upon  the  voluntary  contribu- 


28  Centennial  Record. 

tions  of  the  people.  The  triumph  was  a  grand  one. 
The  results  which  have  followed  attest  to  the  great 
value  of  this  reformatory  work  in  which  the  Free- 
will Baptists  took  a  leading  part.  In  the  closing 
years  of  this  first  half  century,  there  were  begin- 
nings which  must  be  left  to  be  noticed  in  connec- 
tion  with  their  growth  and  development.  Life 
moral  and  spiritual  is  perpetuating,  and  waves  of 
influence  once  set  in  motion  are  many-sided  and  far- 
reaching.  "A  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole 
lump." 

RAPID    GROWTH — 183O-1845. 

It  was  with  a  decided  impulse  that  the  denomina- 
tion entered  upon  the  second  half  century  of  its  ex- 
istence. Twenty-one  thousand  of  earnest  and  con- 
secrated Christian  men  and  women  organized  into 
four  hundred  and  fifty  churches,  existing  in  seven 
States  and  three  of  the  British  Provinces,  and  led  by 
three  hundred  and  seventy-five  ministers  of  the 
same  character,  could  not  but  be,  under  God,  a 
great  moral  and  spiritual  power.  The  first  fifteen 
years  of  the  period  witnessed  a  numerical  growth 
which  was  truly  wonderful.  In  1845,  the  member- 
ship was  more  than  sixty  thousand,  and  the  in- 
crease of  the  churches  and  the  ministers  was  in 
like  proportion.  The  denomination  had  gained  a 
foot-hold  in  Michigan  and  Illinois,  and  had  been 
strengthened  in  all  the  sections  where  it  had  pre- 
viously existed.  No  period  of  its  existence  abounds 
in  facts  of  deeper  interest.    In  it,  the  Freewill  Bap- 


The  Freczvill  Baptists.  29 

tists  became  not  only  a  more  numerous,  but  also  a 
broadened  people. 

At  this  juncture,  there  appeared  a  marked  man, 
whose  name  has  been  hitherto  purposely  omitted, 
who  was  to  the  Freewill  Baptists  at  the  commence- 
ment of  this  second-half  century  of  their  existence 
very  much  what  Randall  was  at  the  beginning.  It 
was  David  Marks  who  was  at  first  known  as  the 
boy  preacher  of  western  New  York.  Born  in 
Shendaken,  Ulster  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1805,  and  re- 
moving, a  few  years  later,  with  his  parents  to  Juni- 
us, Seneca  county,  he  was  converted  while  a 
mere  child,  and  commenced  preaching  at  the  early 
age  of  fifteen  years.  Feeling  that  "  the  woe  was 
upon  him,"  he  traveled  on  foot,  then  on  horseback, 
and  later  with  his  two  horses  and  covered  carriage, 
far  and  near,  and  delivered  his  plain  and  simple 
message  with  such  unction  and  power,  that  the  con- 
version of  hundreds  and  thousands  resulted.  At 
one  time  he  was  in  western  New  York,  a  few 
weeks  later  in  New  England,  and  a  few  weeks  lat- 
er still,  he  had  returned  to  New  York  and  had 
gone  to  Canada,  from  whence  he  returned  to  make 
a  journey  to  Ohio,  or  another  one  to  New  England. 
For  those  days  of  slow  locomotion,  he  was  well- 
nigh  as  omnipresent  as  a  mortal  could  be.  Though 
his  early  educational  advantages  were  small,  he  was 
a  very  diligent  student,  reading  and  writing  as  he 
traveled  from  place  to  place ;  and,  possessing  the 
devotion  of  a  monk  and  the  activity  of  a  Jesuit,  his 
power  for  good  was  immense.     It  was  not  simply 


30  Centennial  Record, 

as  a  revivalist  that  he  was  pre-eminently  influential, 
but  also  in  nearly  all  the  important  movements  for 
which  this  period  of  denominational  history  is  dis- 
tinguished. He  was,  among  other  things,  an  un- 
compromising foe  of  Free  Masonry,  and  following 
his  leadership,  the  General  Conference,  several 
times,  expressed  itself  adverse  to  that  institution. 
Ministers  in  all  parts  of  the  denomination  were  in- 
spired by  his  presence  and  example  :  and  the  work 
of  the  Lord  was  pushed  forward,  and  the  borders 
of  Zion  were  enlarged. 

This  period,  especially  the  last  half  of  it,  was  not- 
ed for  revivals.  The  year  1840,  and  those  which 
immediately  followed  it,  surpassed,  in  this  particu- 
lar, anything  which  had  been  previously  witnessed 
in  the  American  churches  of  all  denominations.  It 
seemed  that  the  kingdom  of  God  had  really,  and 
even  literally,  come  ;  and  there  was  a  pressing  into 
it;  but  such  was  the  nature  of  some  of  the  influenc- 
es which  operated,  that  it  was  not  strange  that  there 
was  a  subsequent  reaction. 

In  addition  to  the  causes  of  numerical  increase 
already  indicated,  there  was  considerable  gain  from 
organic  accessions.  The  first  of  these  to  receive 
attention  were  those  in  Rhode  Island.  They  were 
individual  churches  and  ministers,  and  were  mostly 
of  the  spiritual  progeny,  of  which  Roger  Williams 
was  the  sire.  Foremost  among  them  in  character 
was  the  church  in  Olneyville  with  its  pastor,  Mar- 
tin Cheney.  Organized  in  1828  as  a  Baptist 
church    and   remaining  independent  until    1830,  it 


^■^Cfl,.~.^._,^^>«^'' 


/)/// C^.^c'^^-' 


l^-e^'^-'i^-*^- 


i 


The  Free-will  Baptists.  31 

then  united  with  the  denomination  and  has,  ever 
since,  occupied  a  leading  position.  The  pastor, 
ardent,  strong  and  influential,  was  a  leader  in  all 
moral  and  spiritual  reforms.  He  did  a  grateful  and 
abiding  work.  The  Roger  Williams  church  fol- 
lowed in  1837.  It  was  originally  Six  Principle 
Baptist  in  name,  and  soon  became  large  and 
strong.  There  were  others  which  came  in  due 
time ;  and,  to-day,  of  the  twenty-five  churches, 
of  which  the  Rhode  Island  Association  is  com- 
posed, nine  were  not  organized  as  Freewill  Baptist. 
The  second  of  these  accessions  was  that  of  the 
Free  Communion  Baptists  of  New  York  who  unit- 
ed with  the  Freewill  Baptists  as  a  body  in  1841. 
Their  membership  was  a  little  more  than  two  thou- 
sand and  five  hundred,  embraced  in  fifty-five 
churches.  This  people  had  an  interesting  his- 
tory. Previous  to  1783  emigrants  from  a  church 
in  Westerly,  R.  I.,  connected  with  the  somewhat 
celebrated  "  Groton  Union  Conference,"  which  was 
composed  largely,  if  not  wholly,  of  churches  which 
sprung  up  as  the  result  of  the  labors  of  Whitefield, 
settled  in  Stephentown,  Rensselaer  county,  N.  Y. 
They  carried  with  them  their  ideas  of  religious  doc- 
trine and  polity,  and  soon  organized  a  church,  of 
which  Benajah  Corpe  was  the  first  pastor.  He  was 
a  good  man,  and  lived  many  years  to  bless  the  cause 
of  the  Redeemer.  In  the  course  of  time,  members 
of  this  first  church  removed  to  towns  and  villages 
farther  west,  and,  through  their  instrumentality  oth- 
er churches  were  formed.     In  their  journeys,  David 


32  Centennial  Record. 

Marks  and  others  visited  these  churches.  It  beingf 
discovered  that  their  doctrinal  views  and  usages 
were  almost  identical  with  those  of  the  Freewill 
Baptists,  and  that  the  type  of  Christian  life  devel- 
oped was  not  dissimilar,  mutual  efforts  for  union 
were  made  with  successful  and  happy  results. 
One  of  the  conditions  of  the  union  was  that  they 
should  be  permitted  to  call  themselves  Free  Bap- 
tists or  Freewill.,  as  they  might  prefer.  William 
Hunt,  Jeremiah  Phillips  and  Levi  G.  Gardner  were 
among  the  leading  ministers.  In  this  connection, 
it  is  due  to  mention  that  there  existed  in  North  Car- 
olina quite  a  body  of  Baptists  who  were  in  fellow- 
ship with  the  denomination,  and  with  whom  Elias 
Hutchins  labored  for  a  period ;  but  for  a  cause 
which  will  herein  appear,  the  fellowship  existing 
was  severed,  and  in  1845,  they  were  not  numerical- 
ly reckoned  with  the  denomination.  In  fact, 
though  they  took  the  name  of  Freewill  Baptists, 
they  never  united  with  the  General  Conference. 

As  already  intimated,  this  period  was  distin- 
guished for  a  growth  of  another  character.  The 
story  of  the  origin  and  history  of  the  "  Book  Con- 
cern," now  the  Printing  Establishment,  of  the  Mis- 
sion  and  Education  Societies,  of  the  anti-slavery  and 
temperance  positions  and  records  of  the  denomina- 
tion, and  how  the  Sunday-school  has  been  used  as 
an  instrumentality  of  the  church,  together  with  the 
rise  and  work  of  literary  institutions,  is  told,  in  all 
its  details,  in  the  later  pages  of  this  volume. 
These  enterprises  were,  as  a  whole,  beyond  meas- 


The  Freewill  Baptists.  33 

ure  beneficent,  and  they  were  never  more  so  than 
to-day.  While  every  one  of  them  has  been  object- 
ively useful,  their  reflex  influence  has  been  con- 
spicuous and  powerful.  Through  them,  knowl- 
edge has  been  disseminated  ;  the  means  of  culture 
have  been  provided;  the  breadth  of  vision  has  been 
widened,  the  sense  of  fellowship  strengthened ; 
channels  of  benevolence  have  been  afforded ;  the 
borders  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  have  been  ex- 
tended ;  Christian  workers,  and  even  heroes,  have 
been  developed ;  the  tempted  have  been  rescued ; 
and  the  chains  of  the  oppressed  have  been  broken. 
Without  them  the  denomination  would  have  but  lit- 
tle or  no  special  work  in  the  present,  and  there 
would  be  no  imperative  call  for  its  existence  in  the 
future,  for  the  causes  which  made  its  existence  neces- 
sary have  long  since  ceased  to  be  largely  operative. 
Nay,  more,  the  wide-spreading  and  the  fruit-bear- 
ing branches  are  the  glory  of  the  trunk  which  sus- 
tains them.  It  matters  but  little,  as  things  are  now 
seen,  that  the  decided  anti-slavery  position  taken 
prevented  the  extension  of  the  denomination  south 
of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  and  caused  fellowships 
which  had  previously  existed  to  be  broken,  hinder- 
ing also  its  growth  and  development  at  the  North ; 
or  that  the  Educational  movement  led  to  serious  dis- 
ruptions in  localities  where  its  doctrines  were  early 
preached.  There  is  a  wealth  in  the  consciousness 
of  rectitude  and  in  the  achievement  of  truth  which 
far  outweighs  the  value  of  mere  numbers.  As  the 
record  is  reviewed,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  magnify 


34  Centennial  Record. 

too  largely  the  service  of  Marks,  the  bold  inspirer, 
that  of  Burr,  the  faithful  conservator,  that  of  Che- 
ney, the  wise  seer,  that  of  Qiiinby,  the  industrious 
educator  and  that  of  Phillips,  the  heroic  foreign  la- 
borer. It  is  no  wonder  that  those  of  this  genera- 
tion find  it  in  their  hearts  to  call  them  blessed,  nay, 
thrice  blessed  ! 

In  these  years,  there  was  going  forward  a  work, 
in  a  measure  silent  and  unseen,  which  has  told  im- 
mensely upon  the  denomination  in  the  line  of  its 
consolidation  and  efficiency.  The  early  ministry 
was  to  a  great  extent  itinerant.  The  pastoral  rela- 
tion was  loosely  defined.  There  were  times  when 
ministerial  support,  much  inveighed  against,  was 
sadly  neglected.  The  first  half  century  had  well- 
nigh  passed  before  there  was  a  single  minister  who 
received  a  stated  salary  and  such  as  enabled  him  to 
devote  his  entire  time  to  the  work.  Arthur  Caver- 
no  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  who  was 
thus  favored.  The  transforming  power  of  the 
years  from  1830  to  1845,  in  effecting  a  reform  in 
ministerial  support  and  producing  definiteness  in 
the  pastoral  relation,  was  immense  ;  and  yet  there 
is  a  sense  in  which  they  only  laid  the  foundation 
and  left  it  for  later  years  to  add  the  superstructure. 

In  these  years  also,  there  were  noble  and  heroic 
conflicts  for  advancement  in  good  ways  and  noble 
work.  The  record  of  many  of  them,  finding  no 
earthly  recorder,  will  be  found  writteh  in  God's 
book  of  remembrance.  As  among  the  first  fruits  of 
the  new  order  of  things  which  was  being  instituted, 


The  Free-will  Baptists.  3^ 

there  were  given  to  the  denomination  men  of  liber- 
al culture  and  large  endowments  who  have  occu- 
pied, and  even  still  occupy,  leading  positions  as 
pastors  and  educators.  As  thej^  pass  away,  for 
they  all  soon  must,  the  monuments  of  their  labors 
tower  more  grandly. 

TRIAL    AND    TRANSITION 1845-1860. 

The  higher  the  tide  rises  at  its  flood,  the  greater 
must  be  its  ebb.     During  a  series  of  years  follow- 
ing the  great  revival  which  culminated  previous  to 
1845,  there  were  but  few  revivals   and   the  acces- 
sions to   the  churches  were   small.      In   addition  to 
this  fact,  there  were  serious  dissensions.     An  ele- 
ment in  this  great  revival  period  was  Millerism,  or 
Second  Adventism.     In  1833,  William  Miller,  who 
was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  but  who  spent  much 
of  his  active  life  in  New  York,  began  to  announce 
the  speedy  second  coming  of  Christ.       He    was  a 
man  without  the  advantages  of  liberal  culture  and 
was  a   Baptist  in    his  affiliations.      He   had   given 
much  attention   to  the  study  of  the  prophecies  in 
reference  to  the  subject  in  question,  and  by  a  kind 
of  reasoning    and   computation,  he   concluded  that 
the  world  would  end  on  the  15th  of  February,  1843. 
He  traveled  extensively  and  lectured,  using  charts 
and    illustrations.       His    apparent   candor   and   the 
methods  adopted  found  favor  with  many,  especially 
those  who  loved  the  doctrine  of  the  second  coming 
of  Christ  and  were  not  prepared   to  expose  the  fal- 
lacy of  the  arguments  presented.      As  the  set  day 
approached,    the    interest    intensified;     and   while 


36  Centennial  Record. 

many  embraced  the  theories  of  Miller,  others  did 
not  oppose  them  lest,  perchance,  they  should  be 
'found  opposing  the  truth.  Never,  indeed,  in  Free- 
will Baptist  history  was  the  necessity  of  a  thorough- 
ly trained  and  indoctrinated  ministry  more  appar- 
ent. The  distinctions  between  pre-millenarianism 
and  post-millenarianism,  as  they  are  now  manifest, 
were  little  understood.  Miller  and  many  of  his 
co-laborers  were  welcomed  by  Freewill  Baptist 
churches  as  well  as  those  of  other  denominations ; 
and  both  ministers  and  la3^men  embraced  the  doc- 
trines preached.  Revival  efforts  were  carried  on 
by  all  in  common.  When,  however,  the  time  set 
failed  and  another  was  designated  and  failed  like- 
wise, and  the  Adventists  began  to  proclaim  against 
the  churches,  and,  some  of  them,  to  preach  the 
grossest  materialism  as  embodied  in  the  doctrines 
of  the  sleep  of  the  dead  and  the  annihilation  of  the 
wicked,  a  separation  took  place;  and  many  of  the 
Freewill  Baptist  churches  in  New  England  and 
New  York,  especially,  some  of  which  were  strong, 
were  dismembered  and  became  weak.  Poisonous 
influences  were  imparted  which  a  generation  has 
not  fully  outgrown. 

There  were  also  dissensions  of  another  character. 
The  position  taken  b}'^  the  denomination  in  refer- 
ence to  the  education  of  the  ministry,  some  of  the 
moral  reforms  and  some  of  the  methods  employed, 
caused  the  cry  to  be  raised  that  there  had  been  a 
departure  from  the  spirit  of  the  fathers  and  some  of 
the  principles  advocated  by  them.     The  opposition 


The  Freewill  Baptists.  37 

took  embodiment  under  two  different  leaderships. 
The  first  of  these  was  that  by  Eld.  Jeremiah  Bul- 
lock who  had  been  a  Freewill  Baptist  minister  of 
respectable  standing,  and  whose  field  of  operations 
was  largely  in  York  county,  ^[aine.  The  second 
was  by  Dr.  James  M.  Buzzell,  a  son  of  Eld.  John 
Buzzell,  and  Eld.  Samuel  Hutchins,  of  Belgrade  or 
New  Portland,  Me.  The  Bullock  movement  was 
earlier  in  point  of  time  and  more  local  in  character : 
and,  if  possible,  narrower  in  spirit.  It  is  currentl} 
reported  that  it  was  in  opposition  to  Sunday- 
schools,  temperance,  missions  and  all  reforms  and 
improvements.  It  was  a  kind  of  Freewill  Baptist 
anti-nomianism,  and  must  of  necessity,  as  it  did, 
pass  away  in  a  single  generation.  The  Buzzell 
movement  had  the  advantage  of  a  stronger  leader- 
ship and  possibly  that  of  a  stronger  case.  Those 
engaged  in  it  claimed  to  occupy  the  position  origi- 
nally occupied  by  the  denomination,  while  they 
averred  that  the  majority  of  the  body  had  departed 
from  it.  It  was  alleged  that  the  departure  was 
manifest  in  a  variety  of  ways,  but  chiefly  in  these  :* 
— I.  The  introduction  of  written  covenants  into  the 
churches  at  their  organization  or  subsequently ; 
2.  The  toleration  of  written  sermons;  3.  The  es- 
tablishment of  the  Biblical  school,  as  it  was  then 
called.  The  allegations  were  bravely  and  ably 
met  through  the  columns  of  "The  Morning  Star" 
and  in  public  discussions.     Rev.  A.  K.  Moulton,  a 


*  For  these  points  the  writer  is  indebted  to  Rev,  D.  Waterman. 


38  Centenfiial  Record. 

man  of  marked  argumentative  ability,  and  who 
wielded  a  read}'^  pen,  was  then  pastor  of  the  Casco 
St.  church  in  Portland,  Me.,  and  occupied  a  lead- 
ing position  in  sustaining  the  integrity  of  the  de- 
nomination, in  which  he  was  nobly  sustained  by 
other  men  old  and  young,  many  of  whom  are  now 
living.  The  dissenters  had  an  organ  of  respecta- 
ble character,  and  with  considerable  circulation,  in 
"The  Maine  Freewill  Baptist  Repository."  A  sep- 
arate organization  was  formed  wliich  contained 
ministers  and  churches  by  scores,  and  communi- 
cants by  thousands.  There  were  many  in  Maine 
and  New  Hampshire,  especially,  who  sympathized 
with  the  movement,  but  who  were  not  formally  con- 
nected with  it.  It  has  now  ceased  to  have  special 
moral  force.  In  accounting  for  its  existence,  it  has 
been  whispered,  and  perhaps  not  without  reason, 
that  the  sympathizers  with  a  conspicuous  leader  of 
three  or  four  decades,  but  who  had  now  grown  old, 
in  the  presence  of  the  inevitable  law  that  new  wine 
must  be  put  in  new  bottles,  and  that  new  measures 
demand  new  men,  though  men  old  in  years  are  often 
young  in  spirit,  labored  to  make  old  wine  answer 
the  needed  purpose  and  to  cause  the  hand  on  time's 
dial  which  ever  moves  forward  to  turn  backward. 

All  these  schismatic  movements  were  forcibly  felt 
in  impeding  the  work  of  the  denomination,  and  es- 
pecially in  the  diminution  of  its  numbers.  In  1848, 
the  sixty  thousand  members  of  1845  had  fallen  to  fif- 
ty-two thousand,  and  still  the  work  of  disintegration 
went  on,  so  that  in  1857  there  were  less  than  forty- 


The  Frcezuill  Baptists.  39 

nine  thousand.  For  a  long  period  the  spiritual 
heavens  were  dark,  and  faith  was  severely  tested ; 
but  what  was  true  in  this  particular,  of  Freewill 
Baptist  churches,  was  also  true  of  American 
churches  of  all  denominations. 

But  though  the  night  be  dark,  the  morning  Com- 
eth. In  all  those  years,  faithful  w^ork  was  done, 
and  firm  foundations  were  laid.  This  was  especial- 
ly so  through  Educational  and  Home  Missionary 
efforts.  Parsonsfield  seminary,  in  Maine,  Straf- 
ford academy,  in  New  Hampshire,  and  Smithville 
seminary,  subsequently  Lapham  institute,  in  Rhode 
Island,  had  been  established  and  were  doing  effi- 
cient service.  The  foundations  of  the  Whitestown 
seminary,  in  New  York,  had  been  laid;  and  now 
there  came  into  being  Hillsdale  college,  in  Michi- 
gan, New  Hampton  institution,  in  New  Hampshire, 
under  Freewill  Baptist  auspices,  and  Maine  State 
seminary  which  has  grown  into  Bates  college. 
The  Biblical  School  which  had  been  endowed  and 
located  at  Whitestown  was  removed  to  New  Hamp- 
ton. In  these  various  schools  there  w^ere  being  ed- 
ucated many  of  the  most  efficient  ministers  and 
members  of  to-day.  In  them  not  a  few  consecrated 
their  all  to  the  Lord  Jesus.  Well  did  the  workers 
of  those  days  heed  the  injunction, — "In  the  morn- 
ing sow  thy  seed,  and  in  the  evening  withhold  not 
thy  hand." 

In  the  early  days,  the  strong  churches  of  the  de- 
nomination, and  almost  the  only  ones,  were  in  the 
country.     In   fact,  at  the  time  of  the  organization 


46  Centennial  Record. 

©f  the  Home  Mission  Society  in  1834,  there  was 
'not  a  single  Freewill  Baptist  church  in  a  place 
which  was  then  a  city ;  and  there  were  not  more 
than  half  a  dozen  in  places  which  have  since  be- 
come cities.  Since  then,  and,  to  no  small  extent, 
as  the  result  of  the  work  of  this  Society,  a  great 
change  has  taken  place.  In  New  England,  Lew- 
iston,  Dover  and  Providence  have  become  centers 
'of  Freewill  Baptist  influence,  and  there  are  strong 
'Churches  in  such  cities  as  Augusta,  Portland,  Saco 
and  Bifldeford,  in  jNIaine  ;  Concord  and  Manchester, 
in  New  Hampshire,  and  Lowell,  Lawrence  and 
Haverhill,  Mass.  It  was  during  the  period,  under 
consideration,  that  some  of  the  best  work  which  has 
given  the  denomination  these  city  churches  was 
put  forth.  The  borders  of  the  denomination  were 
also  extended  in  the  distant  West ;  and  churches 
were  planted  in  Iowa,  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota, 
where  faithful  and  God-fearing  men  labored.  The 
rviveal  of  1857  and  '58,  following  a  season  of  se- 
vere financial  depression,  was  an  occasion  of  great 
refreshing  to  American  Christians,  and  the  Free- 
will Baptists  enjoyed  its  blessings  in  common  with 
others.  The  churches  were  strengthened,  and  the 
numbers  were  increased.  In  two  years  subsequent 
to  this  revival,  the  denomination  increased  about 
nine  thousand,  so  that  in  i860,  it  stood  numerically 
about  as  in  1845.  "^^^^  basis,  however,  was  far 
more  substantial. 

This    oudine    of    history    would    be    imperfect, 
should  not  attention  be  called  in  it  to  certain  chang- 


The  Freewill  Baptists.  41 

es  which  have  gradually  taken  place  in  forms  of 
worship,  methods  employed  and  kindred  matters. 
This  can  be  done  nowhere  more  appropriately  than 
in  connection  with  a  period  in  which  some  of 
them  were  forcibly  resisted.  During  the  first  half 
century,  and  far  into  the  second  half,  the  preacher 
conducting  the  public  service  almost  always  allowed 
the  brethren  and  sisters  to  improve  their  gifts. 
Not  to  do  this  would  have  been  considered  a  great 
infringement  upon  "  liberty."  Now  to  do  it,  would 
be,  in  most  of  the  churches,  especially  in  the  serv- 
ices of  the  Sabbath,  and  in  the  cities  and  larger  vil- 
lages, regarded  a  great  breach  of  propriety.  Once 
responses  were  common  and  earnest  in  the  public 
services,  but  now  they  are  usually  few  and  faint. 
In  former  days,  the  preacher  quite  invariably 
knelt  in  the  pulpit,  in  leading  the  devotions,  but  in 
the  more  recent  ones  he  more  commonly  stands. 
The  devout  among  the  people  in  time  of  prayer 
knelt  in  the  pews,  but  the  same  class  content 
themselves  with  simply  bowing  the  head.  In 
the  service  of  song  in  olden  times,  and  in  many  lo- 
calities, the  use  of  an  instrument  was  considered  an 
abomination,  but  those  times  have  long  since 
passed.  It  was  the  hostile  position  of  the  Six  Prin- 
ciple Baptists  in  reference  to  such  use  which  gave 
the  Freewill  Baptists  the  Roger  Williams  church 
in  Providence.  Once  great  plainness  in  dress 
was  practiced,  but  now  there  is  a  disposition  to 
adopt  that  mean  between  extremes  which  will  escape 
special  observation.      Some  marked  changes  have 


42  Centennial  Rcco7d. 

also  taken  place  in  reference  to  the  sermon.  It  is, 
as  a  rule,  shorter  than  formerly,  and  if  it  was  ever 
common  for  the  preacher  to  enter  the  pulpit  with- 
out premeditation,  it  would  now  be  nowhere  toler- 
ated. Until  within  twenty-five  years,  no  written 
sermons,  and  scarcely  brief  notes,  were  allowed, 
and  the  annoyances  which  have  grown  out  of  this 
attitude  have  been  vexatious.  It  now  seems  quite 
generally  agreed  that  the  workman  be  permitted  to 
employ  the  kind  of  tools  to  which  he  is  best  adapted  ; 
and  it  is  questionable  whether  the  use  of  full  manu- 
scripts is  on  the  increase.  All  these  changes,  in 
which  there  is  now  a  cheerful  acquiescence,  indi- 
cate the  growth  of  Christian  charity ;  and  there  is 
in  them  no  violation  of  the  requirements  of  the  gos- 
pel. Until  within  the  limits  of  this  period,  a  Free- 
will Baptist  minister  was  everywhere  designated  by 
the  title  of  "Elder,"  but  the  title  of  "Reverend"  has 
been  since  used,  especially  in  denominational  publi- 
cations. A  kind  of  mannerism  of  some  of  the  ear- 
lier ministers  manifest  in  a  peculiar  intonation  of 
voice  appeared  no  more. 

CONSTANT    PROGRESS — 1860-1880. 

From  i860,  two  decades  complete  the  century. 
The  period  opened  with  the  war  for  the  suppression 
of  the  rebellion.  During  long  years  the  Freewill 
Baptists  had  voted  and  prayed  for  the  slave.  They 
now  fought  for  him.  Many  homes  gave  their  dear 
ones  as  sacrifices  upon  the  altar  of  their  country's 
good.     Fifty-eight  Freewill  Baptist  ministers  were 


The  Frecivill  Baptists.  43 

reported  to  have  entered  the  Union  army,  and  two 
hundred  and  ten  sons  of  ministers.  The  actual 
number  in  each  case  was  probably  much  larger. 
These  facts  tell  a  significant  story.  It  was  with 
grateful  pride  that  the  veteran  editor  of  "The 
Morning  Star,"  who  had  been  in  the  thickest  of  the 
fight,  and  was  then,  as  it  proved,  upon  the  borders 
of  the  grave,  reported  at  the  General  Conference, 
held  in  Lewiston,  Me.: — "Since  the  last  Confer- 
ence, 'The  Star'  has  had  the  unspeakable  joy  of 
announcing  the  most  important  event  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  viz., — the  overthrow,  and  as  we 
hope,  in  God,  the  final  death  of  American  slavery, 
for  which  it  had  so  long  and  so  earnestly  labored, 
and  ardently  hoped  and  prayed,  but  which  at  times 
it  had  almost  despaired  of  living  to  see.  'It  is  the 
Lord's  doings  and  marvelous  in  our  eyes.'  To  his 
great  name  be  all  the  glory  given." 

During  the  war  the  denomination  suflfered  nu- 
merically, as  it  was  quite  natural  that  it  should. 
Energy  expended  in  one  field  leaves  less  to  be  giv- 
en to  another.  From  the  close  of  the  war,  the  in- 
crease commenced  again  ;  and  in  1S70,  the  hitherto 
maximum  number,  sixty  thousand,  was  reached. 
Since  that  time,  the  progress  in  this  particular  has 
been  constant,  so  that  in  1879,  there  were  reported 
775641  members,  1446  churches  and  1442  minis- 
ters. The  general  cause  has  moved  steadily  for- 
ward. The  schools  have  continued  to  do  a  good 
W'ork,  and  some  of  them  have  been  better  endowed. 
Bates  college   at  Lewiston,  founded  within  the  pe- 


44  Centennial  Record. 

riod,  has  attained  a  marvelous  growth,  and  has 
performed  a  most  gratifying  service  in  sending  out 
those  who  have  entered  the  ministry  and  other  call- 
ings. The  Theological  school  has  been  removed 
from  New  Hampton,  and  has  been  consolidated 
with  it.  The  missionary  societies  have  pushed 
forward  and  have  enlarged  their  spheres  of  influ- 
ence and  usefulness.  The  foreign  Society  sends 
more  missionaries  to  India  and  does  a  broader 
work  in  that  dark  land.  As  one  of  the  results  of 
the  war,  a  new  door  has  been  opened  to  the  home 
Society ;  and  it  has  entered  it,  and  is  winning  new 
trophies.  Storer  college  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and 
the  colored  churches  in  the  South  are  monuments 
of  faithful  labor,  and  they  beckon  to  other  noble 
deeds.  "The  Morning  Star"  continues  to  shine 
with  light  undimmed,  though  it  has  twice  lost  its 
editor  by  death.  The  cultivated  efficiency  of  the 
ministry  has  increased  year  by  year,  and  there  has 
been  a  marked  improvement  in  the  material  sup- 
port given  to  it.  All  parts  of  the  denomination 
were  never  bound  together  by  stronger  chords  of 
sympathy,  and,  though  no  man  is  acknowledged 
supremely  as  leader,  yet  a  cordial  spirit  of  co-oper- 
ation is  everywhere  manifest.  The  observance  of 
the  Centennial  Anniversary  in  1880  has  given  the 
people  such  an  impulse  for  enlarged  work,  that  the 
recording  of  the  grand  and  beneficent  results  of  it 
will  constitute  a  part  of  the  grateful  work  of  a  fu- 
ture historian. 


The  Frcctuill  Baptists.  45 

TRIBUTE    TO    WOMAN. 

"  She  hath  done  what  she  could."  This  testimony 
of  the  blessed  Saviour  in  behalf  of  Mary  of  Beth- 
any, can,  with  propriety,  be  given  in  behalf  of  the 
representative  Freewill  Baptist  women.  Randall 
said  of  Joanna  Oram,  his  wife  : — "I  believe  she  was 
the  gift  of  God  to  me  ;  and  that  there  was  never  a 
woman  more  suitable  for  the  place  in  which  she  had 
to  stand."  These  words  spoken  with  reason  and 
sincerity  were  significant.  This  woman  has  had 
worthy  successors.  Said  "  The  Missionary  Help- 
er," one  of  woman's  grand  works  of  to-day,  in  the 
July  number  for  1880,  referring  to  the  ap- 
proaching centennial  observances  : — "  The  part 
which  woman  has  borne  so  enters  into  the  warp 
and  woof  of  our  denominational  existence  that  it 
would  be  difficult  to  review  her  work  separately 
and  distinctively.  That  she  has  been  an  important 
element  no  one  will  deny ;  so  whenever  the  fathers 
are  referred  to,  we  will  remember  the  mothers  who 
have  walked  side  by  side  with  them,  and  have  been 
the  light-bearers  in  many  a  dark  hour."  And 
herein  are  important  facts  disclosed.  It  has  ever 
been  in  accordance  with  the  genius  of  the  Freewill 
Baptists  to  grant  woman  enlarged  privileges  in  wor- 
ship. Freely  has  she  participated  in  meetings  of 
prayer  and  praise.  She  has  been  in  a  large  major- 
ity in  the  membership  of  the  churches,  and  nobly  has 
she  borne  burdens  in  sustaining  the  cause  of  the 
Redeemer.     She  has  been  conspicuous  as  a  teacher 


46  Centennial  Record. 

and  as  a  writer,  especially  for  the  young.  So  silent 
and  uniform  has  been  her  work,  that  it  has  been 
made,  only  now  and  then,  to  stand  boldly  out,  and 
she  has  appeared  in  her  individual  name.  But  she 
has  so  appeared,  and  it  is  fitting  that  she  be  placed 
on  record. 

As  early  as  1787,  a  branch  of  the  church  in 
New  Castle,  N.  H.,  reported  by  letter  for  the  first 
time  over  the  signature  of  Abigail  Amerzeen.  A 
branch  of  the  church  in  Lewiston,  Me.,  was  more 
than  once  reported  by  Eliza  Grafham,  who  became 
Mrs.  Thorn,  the  mother  of  Rev.  Benjamin  Thorn. 
This  woman,  several  times,  walked  from  Lewiston 
to  Westport,  a  distance  of  thirty  miles,  to  attend 
Quarterly  and  Yearly  Meetings.  Sally  Parsons, 
of  Westport,  Me:,  and  a  sister  of  Jotham  Parsons, 
was  compelled  by  her  father  to  choose  between  her 
home  and  her  Saviour.  She  bravely  chose  the  lat- 
ter, and  in  this  course  the  Lord  sustained  her.  It  is 
stated  that  the  mother  of  the  late  Rev.  Ebenezer 
Knowlton  carried  him,  when  a  babe,  in  her  arms, 
as  she  rode  on  horseback  from  her  old  home  in 
Pittsfield,  N.  H.,  to  what  was  later  her  new  one  in 
Montville,  Me.,  a  distance  of  nearly  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles.  The  wives  of  Herman  Jenkins,  of 
western  New  York,  and  Clement  Phinney,  of 
Maine,  endured  great  privations  and  exhibited  great 
heroism  in  the  absence  of  their  husbands  from 
home,  while  engaged  in  revival  efforts.  These  are 
representative  incidents  illustrative  of  great  love 
for  the  cause  of  God,  strength    of  character    and 


The  Freewill  Baptists.  47 

noble  endurance.  In  these  particulars  the  half  has 
not  been  told,  nor  can  it  be.  There  have  been 
everywhere,  and  all  along  the  century,  silent,  effi- 
cient and  God-fearing  mothers  in  our  Israel. 

The  first  woman  in  the  denomination  who  took 
the  position  of  a  gospel  laborer  was  Mary  Savage, 
of  Woolwich,  Me.  She  commenced  her  work  in 
1791,  and  success  attended  her.  From  1816,  and 
until  her  marriage  in  1822,  Clarissa  H.  Danforth 
acquired  distinction  in  the  same  field.  She  was  a 
native  of  Vermont,  but  labored  extensively  else- 
where, and  particularly  in  Rhode  Island.  She  was 
graceful  in  manner  and  forcible  in  utterance.  A 
little  later,  Susan  Humes,  of  the  last-named  State, 
became  a  preacher  and  gave  promise  of  great  use- 
fulness, but  her  work  was  cut  short  by  an  early 
death.  Later  still,  Salome  Lincoln  Mowry,  of  the 
same  State,  was  the  wife  of  a  minister,  and  was 
herself  an  acceptable  preacher.  There  is  the  high- 
est testimony  in  behalf  of  Mrs.  Ruby  Bixby,  the 
wife  of  Rev.  N.  W.  Bixby,  of  Iowa,  as  a  preacher, 
as  well  as  a  prudent  and  industrious  housewife. 
This  pioneer  Freewill  Baptist  woman  of  the  North- 
west died  in  Jan.,  1877.  She  was  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont, from  which  State  she  went  with  her  hus- 
band in  1846.  In  a  few  instances  of  recent  occur- 
rence women  have  been  ordained.  The  denomina- 
tion, which  has  declared  in  favor  of  woman's  suf- 
frage at  its  centennial  anniversary,  has  a  warm 
welcome  for  the  woman  whose  qualifications  for  or- 
dination are  that   she  has  such   piety,  ability  and 


48  Centennial  Record. 

culture  that  in  their  presence  sex  will   be  forgotten 
and  cynical  criticism  will  stand  aghast. 

The  typical  pastor's  wife  of  this  last  period  is  a 
woman  of  sweet  and  devoted  piety,  of  cultured 
tastes  and  yet  enduring  many  privations,  whose 
health  labors  and  anxieties  may  have  impaired, 
wlio  has  aspirations  which  would  call  her  abroad, 
but  is  content  to  toil  at  home  and  in  the  church, 
who  makes  her  husband's  success  her  own,  her 
fortunes  being  fully  bound  up  in  his,  and  who 
bears  him  and  his  work  in  her  closet  to  the  Throne 
of  Grace.  She  hopes  at  last  to  be  pronounced 
blessed  by  the  Master ;  and  in  this  she  will  not  be 
disappointed.  But  it  is  not  in  the  parsonage  and 
in  the  performance  of  the  old  routine  duties  of  the 
church  only,  that  she  finds  a  sphere  for  action. 
She  and  those  whom  she  can  enlist  with  her,  and 
they  are  many,  engage  in  that  noble  service  whose 
watchword  is,  "Woman's  work  for  woman,"  and 
thus  she  goes  forth  into  "  the  green  pastures  and 
beside  the  still  waters  ; "  and  her  soul  becomes  en- 
larged. More  might  be  said  of  the  women  of  to- 
day. It  will  be  the  pleasant  work  of  some  one,  in 
the  not  distant  future,  to  recount  the  labors  and 
delineate  the  characteristics  of  one,  the  chosen 
companion  of  two  of  God's  eminent  servants,  who 
has  spent  fifty  years  in  active  service  for  the  spread 
of  the  gospel,  and  who  still  presses  forward;  and 
of  another  whose  special  right  to  distinction  is,  that 
she  has  sung  for  a  generation,  and  has  given  the 
denomination     the    sweetest   of    its    own    peculiar 


The  Frcczuill  Baptists.  49 

songs.     The  missionary  record   of  woman  will  be 
found  in  its  appropriate  place. 

IN   MEMORIAM. 

"Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord." 
During  this  closing  period  of  the  century,  there 
have  gone  to  receive  their  reward  a  succession  of 
good  men  whose  position  in  the  denomination,  to- 
gether with  the  manner  of  their  departure,  has  ar- 
rested special  attention.  But  in  connection  with 
the  deaths  of  these  men,  it  is  fitting  to  notice  those 
of  three  other  devoted  servants  of  God  which  took 
place  during  an  earlier  period.  They  all  consti- 
tute a  few  of  the  eminent  dead  of  the  century. 

David  Marks  died  in  Oberlin,  Ohio,  December 
I,  1845,  aged  40  years.  In  consequence  of  exces- 
sive labors,  his  health  had  been  declining  for  sever- 
al years.  His  last  sickness  was  painful,  but  the 
manner  of  his  death,  in  patient  endurance  and  ho- 
ly fortitude,  was  a  fitting  close  of  his  brief  and  in- 
tense life.  For  some  time  he  had  been  a  student 
in  Oberlin  college,  and  the  attention  which  he  re- 
ceived from  the  faculty  and  other  friends  residing 
in  Oberlin  attested  to  the  power  of  his  personal 
character  and  the  place  which  he  had  won  in  the 
esteem  of  those  who  belonged  to  another  commun- 
ion. His  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  Prof. 
Finney.  A  fitting  inscription  on  his  tombstone  is 
the  words  : — 

"  Thousands  bezuail  a  hero,  and  a  nation  mourn- 


50  Centennial  Record. 

eth  for  its  king,  biit  the  -whole  universe  lamcntcth 
a  man  of  grayer.'''' 

Living  in  an  eventful  period,  his  work  was  large 
in  ma<rnitude  and  far-reachincr  in  influence. 
Though  he  met  with  much  opposition,  he  nobly 
braved  it ;  and  though  he  passed  through  severe 
ordeals,  he  came  out  of  them  as  gold  tried  in  fire. 
The  great  transformation  which  took  place  in  his 
opinions  in  his  brief  life-time,  in  respect  to  the  one 
subject  of  education,  is  illustrative  of  the  transform- 
ing work  which  he  inspired  in  the  denomination. 
With  him  passed  away  the  last  great  and  universal- 
ly recognized  leader.  In  this  particular,  there  may 
have  since  been  approximations,  and  some  have 
had  devoted  local  followings,  but  no  one  has  been 
equal  to  David  Marks. 

Martin  Cheney  died  in  Olneyville,  R.  I.,  Jan.  4, 
1852,  aged  59  years.  His  sickness  was  of  some 
two  months'  duration.  His  last  words  were:  "I 
have  a  hope  that  endureth  unto  the  end."  He 
had  in  the  twenty-seven  years  of  his  ministry  but 
one  field  of  labor,  and  was  pastor  of  but  a  sin- 
gle church,  yet  his  influence  had  become  wide  and 
enduring.  Of  broad  and  clear  vision,  in  all  works 
of  Christian  philanthropy  he  was  far  in  advance  of 
his  age.  The  Rhode  Island  churches,  especially, 
regarded  him,  and  they  still  regard  him,  with  all 
the  veneration  with  which  the  Israelites  did  Samuel, 
their  great  judi^e  and  prophet.  His  remains  rest 
in  the  beautiful  Pocasset  cemetery,  located  in 
Cranston,  about  two  miles  from  Olneyville. 


The  Freewill  Baptists.  51 

Elias  Hutchins  died  in  Dover,  N.  H.,  Sept.  11, 
1859,  aged  58  years.  The  change  came  after  the 
special  premonition  of  a  sickness  of  nearly  two 
months.  With  the  word  trust  upon  his  lips,  he 
joyfully  passed  to  the  realization  of  what  it  implies. 
He  devoted  much  of  his  earlier  life  to  evangelistic 
efforts,  and  in  his  later  life  he  was  a  beloved  pas- 
tor. A  hundred  years  of  Freewill  Baptist  history 
does  not  afford  a  more  conspicuous  example  of  de- 
voted piety.  Of  him,  the  Hon.  John  P.  Hale,  who 
knew  him  intimately,  said  : 

"  I  have  heard  more  powerful  preachers  in  the 
pulpit;  but  the  eloquence  of  his  daily  life,  seen  and 
read  by  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  was  the 
most  convincing  appeal  ever  addressed  by  a  Chris- 
tian minister  to  the  people    with  whom  he    labored. 
With  a  narrow  income,  he  practiced  the  most  liber- 
al   and   open-handed    charity.      He  combined    and 
harmonized,  in    a  degree   I    have   never    seen  sur- 
passed, the  most  opposite  traits  of  character.     Gen- 
tle and  tender  as  a  woman  in  his  intercourse    with 
others,  yet  whenever  his  sense  of  duty  indicated  a 
course  of  conduct   as  one   he  ought  to    pursue,   the 
everlasting  hills  were  not  more  immovable  than  he. 
Rigid  and  inflexible  in  the  government    of  his  own 
conduct,  he  was  most  lenient  and   forgiving  to  oth- 
ers.    Firm  in  his  own  religious  faith,  and  ardently 
attached  to  the  people  with  which    he  was  identi- 
fied, he  had  a  most  catholic   and  liberal    spirit  to- 
ward those  who  differed  from  him.     Nothing  could 
swerve  him  from  what  he  beheved  to  be  right ;  and 


52  Centennial  Record. 

when  he  had  once  fixed  upon  a  course  which  ac- 
corded with  his  convictions  of  duty,  he  pursued  it 
fearlessly,  utterly  regardless  of  the  consequences, 
and  death  would  have  been  chosen  by  him,  at  any 
time,  in  preference  to  a  dereliction  of  duty."  Kis 
remains  repose  in  the  Pine  Hill  cemetery,  the 
beautiful  burying  place  of  Dover. 

John  Buzzell  died  in  Parsonsfield,  Me.,  March 
29,1863,  aged  96  years  and  6  months.  His  life 
spanning  three  generations,  its  close  was  "  like  the 
going  out  of  a  taper."  Though  he  was,  in  his  later 
years,  somewhat  alienated  from  the  sympathies  of 
the  people  of  his  early  choice,  and  to  whom  he  had 
given  the  strength  of  his  manhood,  he  was  ever  re- 
garded b3'them  as  one  of  their  peculiar  possessions, 
as  well  as  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  personages 
in  their  history.  Says  his  biographer,  speaking  of 
him  as  he  was  in  his  earlier  days: — "His  large, 
natural  talent  was  baptized  in  the  principles  and 
spirit  of  the  connection,  and  eminently  endowed 
with  '  power  from  on  high.'  With  his  dignified 
moderation  were  energy  and  ardor.  With  urbanity 
of  manners,  were  condescension,  affability,  kind- 
ness and  aff'ection.  With  seriousness  of  deportment 
and  conversation,  were  pleasantly  blended  humor 
and  wit.  To  eminent  oratorical  talent  was  joined  the 
ability  of  the  '  ready  writer.'  And,  giving  efiective- 
ness  to  all,  was  the  spirit  and  principle  of  full  con- 
secration to  the  gospel-work,  that  shrank  not  from 
labor,  hardship,  danger  of  self-sacrifice  in  property 
or  person,  '  enduring  hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of 


The  Freewill  Baptists.  53 

Jesus  Christ,'  and   counting  all  things  as  loss    for 

Jesus'  sake Mightily  he   wielded  the 

aggressive  '  sword  of  the  Spirit'  in  assault  upon  the 
world  of  sin  without,  and  effectively  he  interposed 
'  the  shield  of  faith'  to  '  the  darts  of  the  adversary  ' 
arising  within  the  camp,  in  heresies,  delusions,  and 
treacheries  by  *  false  brethren,'  as  '  spies  '  against 
the  true  'liberty  in  Christ  Jesus.'"  There  is  no 
one  who  would  detract  from  the  honor  and  rever- 
ence which  are  justly  due  to  his  memory.  His 
grave  is  at  North  Parsonsfield. 

William  Burr  died  in  Dover,  N.  H.,  Nov.  5, 
1866,  aged  60  years.  Seized  with  apoplexy  while 
occupying  his  accustomed  seat  in  the  prayer- 
meeting  on  Sunday  evening,  he  was  without  pre- 
monition ushered  into  the  presence  of  God.  His 
record  as  printer,  publisher  and  editor  of  "  The 
Morning  Star,"  as  treasurer  of  the  benevolent  socie- 
ties, and  as  an  officer  in  the  church  of  God,  was 
long  and  conspicuously  able  and  useful.  "  He 
was,"  the  writer  reproducing  his  own  words, 
penned  the  day  following  his  death,  "  an  agreea- 
ble companion,  a  generous  and  patriotic  citizen, 
a  prompt  and  accurate  business  man,  an  able  edi- 
tor, a  wise  counselor,  a  friend  of  the  needy  and  op- 
pressed ;  and,  above  all,  a  sincere  and  earnest 
Christian.  What  he  lacked  in  the  discipline  of  let- 
ters, he  made  up  in  the  discipline  of  life.  If  he  was 
cautious  in  arriving  at  conclusions,  those  once 
formed  were  held  most  firmly.  While  he  was  con- 
servative in  his  feelings,  no  man  ever  put  his  shoul- 


54  Centennial  Record. 

der  to  the  wheel  of  progress  more  resolutely,  es- 
specially  when  he  was  convinced  what  progress 
was.  He  hated  evil  in  all  its  forms  with  intensity, 
and  fought  it  with  determination.  The  wicked 
feared  him,  the  good  loved  him,  and  all  respected 
him.  His  religion  was  the  governing  principle  of 
his  life,  and  regulated  all  his  acts.  In  the  denom- 
ination with  which  he  was  connected,  and  which 
he  ardently  loved,  he  has  won  a  lasting  name  and 
place."  His  remains  rest  in  the  same  cemetery  as 
those  of  Hutchins,  his  beloved  pastor  and  co-laborer. 

Albanus  K.  Moulton  died  in  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
June  19,  1873,  aged  63  3'ears.  His  death  resulted 
from  a  misstep  as  he  was  walking  in  the  late  even- 
ing, on  a  railroad  bridge.  From  it  he  fell  upon  the 
rocks,  forty  feet  below  ;  and,  "  without  twilight  or 
pain,"  he  went  into  the  presence  of  God.  During 
a  period  of  thirty-five  years,  this  man,  the  son  of 
Elder  Avery  Moulton,  of  Canada,  was  conspicuous 
as  a  preacher,  pastor  and  writer.  He  was  ever 
earnest  and  bold ;  had  strong  convictions,  and 
frequently  gave  decisive  expression  to  them.  In- 
cisiveness  of  intellect  was  one  of  his  prominent 
characteristics,  and  it  was  used  for  good  ends. 
His  loyal  soul  is  among  the  redeemed  ones,  and 
his  memory  is  cherished. 

Ebenezer  Knowlton  died  in  South  Montville, 
Me.,  Sept.  10,  1874,  aged  58  years.  Death  took 
place  while  in  the  act  of  bathing.  This  man,  the 
son  of  a  minister  of  the  same  name,  early  entered 
political  life ;   and  while  presiding  over  the  lower 


1^ 


tc-^. 


The  Freewill  Baptists.  55 

branch  of  the  Maine  Legislature,  in  1846,  God 
spoke  to  him,  and  conferred  upon  him  a  higher 
office.  He  soon  entered  the  ministry,  and  was  use- 
ful in  it.  He  represented  his  district  in  Congress 
from  1855  to  1857,  and  was  an  anti-slavery  cham- 
pion. He  occupied  prominent  positions  in  the  de- 
nomination, and  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  presid- 
ing at  three  sessions  of  the  General  Conference. 
The  ingenuous  nobility  of  his  nature  and  the 
marked  transparency  of  his  character  were  refresh- 
ing. In  him  the  elements  of  personal  popularity 
were  inborn.  His  death  was  attended  with  a  sense 
of  bereavement  widely  and  deeply  manifest. 

George  T.  Day  died  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  May 
21,  1875,  aged  52  years.  The  story  of  his  life  is 
briefly  told,  and  the  traits  of  his  character  are 
strongly  delineated,  in  the  inscription  on  the  monu- 
ment over  his  grave  in  Pocasset  cemetery  : 

''Pastor: — Olncyville  church  1852-185J ;  Rog- 
er Williams  church  i8§y-i86y.  Editor: — '  The 
Morning  Star '  i86j-i8js.  Possessing  great  nat- 
ural ability^  broad  culture,  deep  -piety,  command- 
ing eloqticnce  and  thorough  devotion  to  principle, 
he  was  a  prominent  denominational  leader,  a  suc- 
cessful worker  and  a  valued  friend.''^ 

To  this  the  following  may  be  added  : — He  early 
knew  himself  and  gained  the  faculty  of  complete 
self-mastery.  This  gave  him  power  with  men. 
An  exquisite  literary  taste,  great  facility  of  acquisi- 
tion and  a  most  retentive  memoly  were  marked 
traits  of  his  mental  constitution.     His  methods  of 


$6  Centennial  Record* 

imparting  both  with  pen  and  tongue  early  became 
pleasing  and  accurate.  He  did  for  the  denomina- 
tion a  work  in  kind  which  no  other  man  has  done. 
Especially  did  he  place  before  it  a  model  of  high 
literary  attainments  conjoined  with  piety  of  heart 
and  consecration  of  life.  When  the  summons 
came,  his  spirit  passed  from  the  cloud  and  dark- 
ness of  a  diseased  body  to  the  sunshine  and  glor}' 
of  God's  presence. 

Hosea  Quinby  died  in  Acton,  Me.,  Oct.  ii,  1878, 
aged  74  years.  He  passed  away  quietly,  peace- 
fully and  without  premonition.  The  pioneer  edu- 
cator of  the  denomination,  he  served  the  cause  of 
God  as  a  teacher,  then  as  a  pastor  and  teacher,  and 
then  as  a  pastor  with  unvarying  fidelity  to  the  end. 
There  is  a  sense  in  which  the  educational  institu- 
tions of  the  denomination  and  its  cultured  ministry 
and  membership  are  his  monument.  Thousands 
are  grateful  for  his  noble  work.  In  his  long  ca- 
reer his  faith  was  ever  strong  and  his  course  was 
ever  onward. 

Jeremiah  Phillips  died  in  Hillsdale,  Mich.,  Dec. 
9,  1879,  aged  67  years.  A  statement  of  his 
work  and  a  portrayal  of  his  character,  together 
with  an  account  of  his  death,  are  contained  in 
the    history    of  the    foreign   missionary  enterprise. 

The  manner  and  circumstances  of  the  deaths  of 
Buzzell,  Burr,  Moulton,  Knowlton,  Day,  Quinby 
and  Phillips,  all  occupying  prominent  positions  of 
one  kind  and  another  and  passing  away  within  the 
space  of  less  than  twenty  years,  suggest  the  ques- 


The  Frccxvill  Baptists.  57 

tion  : — "Why  was  it  thus?"  Does  not  the  excep- 
tional manner  in  which  good  men  often  meet  their 
end,  call  attention,  and  give  emphasis,  to  the  ex- 
cellence of  their  lives? 

In  these  pages  thus  far,  the  name  of  William 
Burr  is  that  of  the  only  layman  mentioned.  The 
positions  which  he  held  and  honorably  filled  ren- 
dered him  prominent.  There  are  others  who,  in 
view  of  their  characters  and  services,  are  worthy  of 
a  place  in  history.  John  Shepherd,  Esq.,  and  Sam- 
uel Runnells,  Esq.,  of  New  Hampshire,  were 
friends  of  Randall  and  co-laborers  with  him.  Sam- 
uel Beede,  of  the  same  State,  was  for  a  short  time, 
iS33-'34'  Editor  of  "The  Morning  Star."  He  was 
able  and  devoted,  and,  meteor  like,  he  soon  passed 
away.  Among  those  who  were  trustees  of  "The 
Book  Concern,"  were  Hon.  Charles  Morse,  and 
Dea.  Joseph  Hobson,  of  Maine,  Jacob  Davis,  of 
New  Hampshire,  and  Truman  Car}-,  of  New  York.* 

In  all  parts  of  the  denomination,  there  have  been, 
in  all  the  years  of  the  century,  Aarons  and  Hurs 
who  have  been  honored  as  such.  Not  a  few  of 
them  still  survive,  and  their  labors,  counsels  and 
donations  are  untold  blessings. 

CONCLUSION. 

"And  there  shall  be  an  handful  of  corn," — a 
thing  of  comparatively  small  account  as  seen  from 

•*To  these  might  be  added  a  long  list  of  worthy  laymen,  but  the  ease  of  be- 
ginning to  name  them  would  be  more  than  equaled  by  the  difficulty  of 
stopping,  and  we  forbear. 


58  Centennial  Record. 

a  human  stand-poinl, — "  in  the  earth  upon  the  top 
of  the  mountains  ; " — apart  from  the  noise  and  gaze 
of  the  multitude; — "the  fruit  thereof  shall  shake 
like  Lebanon."  And  this  is  not,  in  the  case  of  the 
Freewill  Baptists,  seen  in  large  numbers?  or  mani- 
fest in  worldly  fame,  but  the  fruit  is  a  record  char- 
acterized by  sincerity,  noble  endurance,  fidelity  to 
principle  and  the  favor  of  God. 

The  Freew^ill  Baptists  came  into  existence  dur- 
ing the  American  revolutionary  struggle,  and  after 
a  severe  spiritual  conflict  on  the  part  of  him  who 
was,  under  God,  their  founder.  The  period  was 
opportune  and  the  demand,  forced  by  the  errone- 
ous theology  and  the  death-causing  formalism  of 
that  day,  was  imperative.  From  the  small  begin- 
ning there  has  been  the  growth  of  a  century. 
There  has  been  a  confirmation  of  doctrine  and  a 
development  of  polity.  There  have  been  severe 
encounters  wath  the  powers  of  evil,  and  some 
marked  triumphs  have  been  achieved.  There  has 
been  commendable  endeavor  to  keep  pace  with  the 
progress  of  the  age,  both  in  attainments  and  meth- 
ods of  labor.  Results  have  been  reached  of  which 
Randall  in  his  humility  and  singleness  of  purpose 
did  not  so  much  as  even  dream.  The  fruitage  of 
one  hundred  years  of  Christian  eflbrt  is  to-day 
manifest  in  the  churches  which  have  been  organ- 
ized, the  institutions  of  learning  founded  and  the 
missions  planted.  Aid  has  been  rendered  in  break- 
ing the  chains  of  the  oppressed,  false  theories  have 
been  corrected,  old  systems  of  theology  have  been 


The  Frcczvill  Baptists.  59 

modified,  and  beneficent  agencies,  including  many 
Christian  homes,  have  been  set  in  operation. 
Moreover,  how  great  is  the  company  of  the  re- 
deemed ones,  now  singing  "Worthy  is  the  Lamb," 
who  while  here  were  abundant  in  labors,  and  the 
blessed  influence  of  their  lives  still  abides.  Stimu- 
lated by  a  view  of  such  grand  results,  shall  not  the 
Freewill  Baptists  of  America,  with  the  help  and 
blessing  of  God,  accomplish  greater  things  in  the 
future?  "In  the  name  of  our  God,  we  will  set  up 
our  banners." 


THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE. 


This  body  is  a  voluntary  association  of  indepen- 
dent churches  for  purposes  of  acquaintance,  advice 
and  organized  action. 

The  supreme  and  independent  authority  of  the 
local  church,  under  Christ,  has  ever  been  tena- 
ciously held  by  Baptists.  Our  churches  have,  from 
the  first,  insisted  upon  this  as  a  cardinal  principle. 
At  the  same  time  they  believed  most  heartily  in  fel- 
lowship among  churches.  They  began  to  meet  by 
delegates  in  Qiiarterly  Meetings  at  an  early  day 
and  voiced  their  fellowship,  convictions  and  pur- 
poses;  offered  advice,  worshiped,  and  then,  dis- 
solving, ceased  to  be,  until  created  again  by 
the  action  of  the  churches.  In  the  same  manner 
Quarterly  Meetings  grew  into  Yearly  Meetings,  cov- 
ering a  larger  territory,  and  doing  a  similar  service 
on  a  larger  scale.  For  forty-seven  years  the  de- 
nomination had  no  other  methods'of  formal  fellow- 
ship, and  of  organically  expressing  the  aggregate 
life  of  the  body. 

In  1827  the  membership  had  grown  to  about  21,- 
000  and  extended  into  ten  States  and  two  of  the 
British  Provinces.  The  existence  of  Qiiarterly 
Meetings  and  Yearly  Meetings  naturally  suggested 


^...^J^-^^-^ 


The  General  Cotiference.  6i 

a  General  Conference,  that  should  serve  the  whole 
brotherhood  as  a  means  of  fellowship  and  guidance. 
Nineteen  delegates,  representing  five  Yearly  Meet- 
ings, met  in  Tunbridge,  Vt.,  and  effected  such  an 
organization,  Oct.  ii,  1827.  Seven  annual  ses- 
sions were  held  in  succession,  in  each  of  which  the 
relations  of  the  Conference  to  the  churches,  and  the 
general  polity  of  the  denomination  were  sharply 
discussed.  Two  lines  of  thought  were  in  fraternal 
conflict.  One  tended  to  clothe  Quarterly  Meet- 
ings, Yearly  Meetings  and  the  General  Conference 
with  powers  of  discipline  co-ordinate  with  the 
church  ;  the  other,  to  allow  only  advisory  powers  to 
those  bodies  and  reserve  all  positive  authority  to 
the  churches  respectively.  One  pa^ty  felt  the 
need  of  law  to  conserve  sound  doctrine  and  repress 
disorder ;  the  other  trusted  to  the  force  of  counsel 
and  healthful  example.  Both  parties  aimed  at  the 
same  results,  but  neither  saw  clearly  the  best  and 
truest  method  for  securing  them.  Zeal  for  liberty 
expressed  itself  in  opposition  to  written  Articles  of 
Faith,  and  specific  rules  of  procedure ;  and  regard 
for  order  led  to  projects  inconsistent  with  church 
independence,  and  freedom  of  spirit.  By  degrees 
a  settled  policy  was  reached. 

In  1833  a  "Treatise  on  the  Faith  of  the  Freewill 
Baptists"  was  adopted  and  commended  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference,  and  in  1841  a  "  Constitution  and 
By-Laws "  was  adopted.  Article  8  defines  its  au- 
thority : — "  This  Conference  shall  have  the  right  to 
discipline,  and,  if  necessary,  exclude  such  Yearly 


62  Centennial  Record. 

Meetings  and  Associations  as  may  be  connected 
with  it ;  but  in  no  case  shall  it  have  power  to  re- 
verse or  change  the  decisions  of  churches,  Qiiar- 
terly  Meetings  or  Yearly  Meetings,  or  any  other 
religious  bodies." 

The  "  golden  mean  "  was  reached  at  last ;  the 
Conference  found  room,  work,  a  mission,  without 
danger  to  the  liberties  of  the  churches.  Its  author- 
ity was  settled  to  be  moral  and  not  legislative ;  its 
function  fixed  to  give  voice  to  the  convictions 
and  purposes  of  the  churches,  but  not  to  rule  over 
them  ;  to  enlarge  their  influence  by  combining  and 
publishing  their  testimony,  and  aggregating  their 
forces,  without  infringing  upon  their  freedom  of  ac- 
tion, or  exacting  the  least  sacrifice  of  local  rights ; 
to  increase  their  privileges,  influence  and  power  by 
enlarging  the  scope  of  free  and  voluntary  action, 
without  dictating  methods,  or  enforcing  regulations. 
This  feat  of  ecclesiastical  wisdom  was  accomplished 
through  the  evolution  of  spiritual  forces  among  the 
brotherhood  generally,  through  the  processes  of  ex- 
perience and  conflict  of  diverse  convictions,  rather 
than  by  the  genius  of  any  one  mind,  or  any  con- 
clave of  minds. 

The  opposition  and  indifference,  which  at  first 
crippled  the  Conference,  by  degrees  gave  way  to 
confidence  and  interest.  The  Yearly  Meetings 
soon  became  eager  to  be  represented,  and  the 
whole  body  of  churches  learned  to  look  to  the  ses- 
sions of  the  General  Conference  as  seasons  of  large 
spiritual   profit,  and   way-marks  of  Christian  prog- 


The   General  Conference.  63 

ress.  After  the  seventh  session,  came  three  sessions 
bi-ennially,  then  the  tri-ennial  custom  obtained,  and 
has  since  continued. 

Of  the  twenty-four  sessions  held,  five  deserve 
special  notice,  since  they  mark  eras  in  our  denom- 
inational history.  That  of  1833  adopted  and  or- 
dered published  a  "  Treatise  of  the  Faith  of  the 
Freewill  Baptist  Denomination."  It  also  took  de- 
cisive action  in  regard  to  sending  missionaries  to 
India,  calling  for  men  immediately  to  give  them- 
selves to  the  work.  It  likewise  pronounced  in  fa- 
vor of  vigorous  efforts  in  the  cause  of  education. 
A  new  departure  on  three  important  points. 

The  next  "  high-day  "  in  the  process  of  develop- 
ment was  in  1839.  "^^^  Conference  was  held 
in  Conneaut,  Ohio.  Dr.  Howsley,  of  Kentucky, 
asked  fellowship  for  slave-holders.  The  example 
of  all  the  great  denominations  favored  consent.  A 
large  party  among  our  people  actively  espoused 
the  side  of  slave-holders.  The  discussion  was  ani- 
mated ;  but  the  decision  was  emphatic  against  hold- 
ing property  in  man.  This  action  involved  loss  of 
members,  and  obstruction  to  growth,  but  the  con- 
science of  Christendom  now  calls  it  just,  brave  and 
wise. 

In  1841  the  Conference  met  in  Topsham,  Maine, 
when  a  far-reaching  principle  of  fellowship  was 
adopted.  As  early  as  1783  Calvinists  from  sepa- 
rate Baptist  churches  in  Rhode  Island  and  Con- 
necticut settled  in  New  York.  Churches  were 
founded,  holding    to    general    atonement  and  open 


64  Centennial  Record. 

communion.  During  subsequent  years  they  had 
"  lenofthened  their  cords,"  and  extended  their  bor- 
ders  into  Pennsylvania  and  Canada  West  under  the 
name  of  "  Free  Communion  Baptists."  Proposals 
for  union  with  the  Freewill  Baptist  General  Confer- 
ence had  been  made,  and  discussed,  and  at  this 
session  it  was  agreed  that  they  should  be  welcomed 
without  change  of  name,  and  that  henceforth  "  Free 
Baptists,  Free  Communion  Baptists,  Freewill  Bap- 
tists, and  Open  Communion  Baptists"  should  be 
accepted  as  "  designating  the  same  people." 

The  next  great  Conference  of  the  series  was 
held  in  Providence,  in  1850.  It  was  the  year  of 
our  nation's  disgrace.  The  Fugitive  Slave  .Law 
had  just  passed  the  Senate  and  received  the  signa- 
ture of  the  President.  Two  fugitives  were  in  the 
congregation,  and  rumors  of  man-hunters  in  pur- 
suit were  in  the  city.  The  scene  that  ensued  is 
described  in  the  paper  setting  forth  the  Anti-slavery 
record  of  the  denomination. 

A  long  and  profitable  discussion  occurred  at  this 
session  on  the  relations  of  churches  to  Quarterly 
Meetings,  these  to  Yearly  Meetings  and  these 
again  to  General  Conference.  Some  asserted  that 
these  relations  correspond  to  those  of  members  to 
their  churches  respectively.  Others  argued  that  the 
churches  were  divinely  constituted,  and  the  dut}- 
of  every  disciple  to  join  some  church  was  ordained 
by  God,  while  the  other  bodies  mentioned  are  vol- 
untary associations,  man-made  and  optional.  The 
former   parties    saw    great    beauty    and   fitness    in 


The   General  Conference.  65 

grades  of  obligation  and  authority  from  the  individ- 
ual up  through  the  churches  to  the  Conference  ; 
the  latter  were  jealous  of  such  authority  and  insist- 
ed that  the  church  is  the  highest  court  in  the  Chris- 
tian system,  and  that  others  over  and  above  them 
are  unauthorized  and  tend  to  despotism.  The  de- 
cision accorded  with  previous  utterances  on  the 
subject,  to  the  effect  that  churches  are  free  to  form 
Qiiarterly  Meetings  or  not,  and  that  if  they  do  unite 
in  them,  they  surrender  none  of  their  independence, 
yield  none  of  their  rights,  and  are  not  bound  to  re- 
main in  them  by  any  presbyterial  authority  vested 
in  the  organization. 

At  this  Conference  our  "first-born  college" 
again  appealed  for  help,  and  $300  was  voted  from 
the  funds  of  the  Printing  Establishment,  in  addition 
to  $500  voted  to  the  same  institution  from  the  same 
source  in  1847.  The  college  at  this  time  was  a 
small  affair,  but  a  beginning  which  has  changed  the 
whole  current  of  denominational  life.  In  the  dis- 
cussion over  the  trifling  appropriation  of  v$300,  the 
foster  parents  of  the  Biblical  school  exulted  in  the 
fruits  of  their  efforts,  that  appeared  on  the  floor  of 
that  Conference.  Jonathan  Woodman,  Silas  Cur- 
tis and  D.  Waterman  welcomed  the  young  men  as 
"first-fruits,"  and  exhorted  to  renewed  sacrifices  to 
push  on  the  work  of  education.  They  live  to 
witness  still  larger  fruits ;  even  more  than  they 
dared  to  hope  for,  and  to  find  that  the  effort  begun 
in  fear  and  trembling  multiplies  in  force  and  celeri- 
ty, as  years  sweep  along. 


66  Centennial  Record. 


THE  CENTENNIAL  CONFERENCE. 

Our  last  Conference  was  the  best  of  all.  One 
hundred  years  have  passed  since  the  first  church, 
represented  in  this  organization,  was  formed  ;  but 
this  first  church  was  by  no  means  the  beginning 
of  liberal  sentiments  among  Baptists.  The  first 
Baptist  churches  known  to  history,  in  England, 
were  of*  this  type,  and  cne  first  ones  formed 
in  this  country  also  held  to  general  atonement 
and  free  salvation.  This  fact,  both  Benedict 
and  Backus,  in  their  histories  of.  the  Baptists,  fully 
recognize.  "Limited  atonement  and  bound-will" 
did  not  appear  in  England  among  Baptists  till  1633, 
when  a  Baptist  church  was  formed  out  of  a  colony 
from  a  church  of  independents,  in  London.  Immi- 
grants to  America  from  this  London  churcli,  and 
others  of  like  faith,  planted  churches  on  the  "  par- 
ticular "  basis  some  years  after  Roger  Williams  set 
up  his  standard  in  Providence.  So  that  this  Cen- 
tennial had  reference  to  the  beginning  of  this  par- 
ticular organization  only,  and  not  to  the  first  exist- 
ence of  liberal  Baptist  churches. 

_It  seemed  a  fitting  thing  to  meet  in  the  vicinity  of 
New  Durham,  and  near  the  grave  of  the  man  who 
led  this  movement  of  reform.  Hence  the  time  for 
the  session  was  changed  from  October  to  July  and 
the  place  fixed  at  Weirs  on  Lake  Winnipesaukee, 
near  the  borders  of  which  the  old  church  was 
formed.  As  no  meeting-house  would  hold  the  peo- 
ple expected  to  attend,  and  no  church  could  con- 


The   General  Conference.  67 

sistently  be  asked  to  entertain  them,  a  camp-ground 
was  secured,  and  facilities  provided  for  all  to 
board  at  their  own  charge,  except  delegates  from 
States  outside  of  New  England,  who  were  boarded 
at  the  expense  of  the  New  Hampshire  Yearly 
Meeting.  The  arrangements  were  made  by  the 
Conference  board,  and  carried  through  with  ener- 
gy and  skill. 

Many  were  anxious  and  somewhat  fearful  as  to 
results.  Celebrating  the  beginnings  of  this  partic- 
ular organization  might  belie  history ;  make  the 
impression  that  liberal  sentiments  among  Baptists 
originated  with  Benjamin  Randall ;  cause  some  to 
suppose  that  we  have  no  historic  prestige,  no  share 
in  the  long  struggle  between  truth  and  error  in 
ages  past,  and  no  connection  with  Christian  heroes 
of  other  centuries.  This  would  be  untrue  to  history 
in  all  respects,  and  a  serious  loss  to  us.  For  there 
is  real  inspiration  in  the  thought  that  we  have  an 
ancestry  that  reaches  back  to  earliest  ages,  and 
that  we  are  contending  for  truths  for  which  heroes 
suifered  and  martyrs  died.  We  are  the  "regular  " 
Baptists,  standing  on  the  platform  laid  down  by  the 
Apostles,  and  vindicated  by  Baptists  long  before 
limited  atonement  and  close  communion  were 
claimed  to  be  "regular  Baptist"  doctrines.  We 
have  not  made  enough  of  this  fact ;  have  been  too 
content  to  admit  ourselves  seceders  from  the  Bap- 
tist fold ;  to  surrender  the  name  and  the  prestige  of 
history,  that  belong  to  us,  to  others  to  whom  they  do 
not  exclusivel}^  belong,  and  it  was  feared  that  this 


68  Centennial  Record. 

centennial  celebration  would  crystallize  this  mis- 
take. But  the  grand  historic  address  of  Prof.  B. 
F.  Hayes  swept  all  fears  aside.  He  took  us  back 
to  the  Apostles ;  found  strong  men  contending  for 
the  same  truths  we  hold  in  every  century,  and  con- 
nected our  people  and  work,  directly,  with  the  ear- 
liest Baptist  churches  known  to  modern  history. 
This  was  important  truth  well  put  and  abundantly 
supported  by  facts. 

Some  also  feared  undue  reverence  for  a  dead 
man's  tomb.  Baptists  have  little  fondness  for  pil- 
grimages to  graves,  reverence  for  saintly  bones,  or 
adoration  for  even  the  best  of  men.  Too  many 
abuses  and  fatal  errors  lie  in  that  direction  to  al- 
low much  enthusiasm  for  a  pilgrimage  to  New 
Durham.  "  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory  save  in 
the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ  my  Lord,"  is  much  more 
consonant  with  the  feelings  of  our  people,  than  rev- 
erence for  any  man,  dead  or  living.  But  fears 
were  dispelled  by  the  healthy  discourse  of  Prof.  R. 
Dunn  to  the  vast  throng  who  assembled  near  the 
monument  of  Randall,  not  to  worship  at  his  tomb, 
but  to  revive  historic  memories,  and  rivet  great 
principles  of  gospel  truth. 

The  "  Camp "  excited  apprehensions  that  the 
meetings  would  be  wild  ;  too  like  a  picnic ;  un- 
devout  and  secular.  The  wise  foresight  of  the 
Committee  barred  the  danger,  and  the  spirit  of  de- 
votion rose  and  ruled  throughout.  There  was 
more  prayer,  more  living  l^estimonies,  more  relig- 
ious  warmth    and    enjoyment   at    this    Conference 


The  General  Conference.  69 

than  at  any   other  among  all   that  have  occurred. 

Heaven  came  down  our  souls  to  greet, 
And  glory  crowned  the  mercy-seat. 

Much  fear  has  been  felt  lest  the  growth  of  educa- 
tion would  depress  piety  among  us,  but  our  educated 
brethren  and  sisters  were  leaders  in  persistent  wor- 
ship at  Weirs,  and  their  spirit,  faith  and  joy  proved 
that  piety  is  increased  by  the  culture  our  schools 
impart.  There  is  less  noise  and  confusion  perhaps 
than  once  prevailed,  but  not  less  feeling,  earnest- 
ness and  power ;  voices  were  not  quite  so  loud  as 
have  been  heard,  but  nearness  to  God,  and  mas- 
terful faith  were  characteristic  of  all  the  meetings. 
It  was  good  to  be  there. 

It  was  thought  that  the  plan  of  leaving  visitors  to 
pay  their  own  expenses  might  operate  against  a 
large  attendance.  But  it  seemed  to  work  exactly 
the  other  way.  None  kept  away  lest  they  be  a 
burden.  Nearly  all  w^ere  delighted  with  the  ar- 
rangement. The  general  opinion  seemed  to  be, 
that  this  is  the  true  plan  for  future  Conferences. 
There  certainly  was  no  lack  of  attendance.  All 
the  boarding  houses  were  crowded,  the  cottages 
were  full,  the  large  hotel  packed,  and  train-loads 
had  to  seek  homes  in  adjoining  villages.  Fears 
of  there  being  too  few  to  be  respectable  were 
changed  to  concern  for  room,  within  reach  of  steam- 
cars  and  boats,  to  lodge  them.  But  good  nature 
and  enterprise  triumphed ;  all  were  accommodated, 
and  all  were  happy. 

Two  ministers  were  present  who  were  members 


70  Centennial  Record. 

of  the  first  Conference  held  in  1827,  Jonatlian 
Woodman  and  Daniel  Jackson ;  the  former  82 
years  of  age  and  the  latter  76,  both  of  them  still 
active  in  the  ministry. 

The  meetincj  of  aged  ministers  was  a  strikincf 
feature  of  the  Conference.  Seventeen  of  these 
were  on  the  platform  together,  each  being  more 
than  seventy  years  old  ;  two  82,  and  one  87  years 
old.  Jonathan  Woodman  has  been  active  in  the 
ministry  62  years.  The  testimony  of  these  vener- 
able men  was  inspiring.  They  each  agreed  with 
Paul  in  declaring :  "  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered 
up,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I 
have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my 
course,  I  have  kept  the  faith.  Henceforth  there  is 
laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the 
Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that 
day ;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  to  all  them  also  that 
love  his  appearing."  We  shall  never  forget  the 
presence  and  sweet  words  of  assurance  of  that  oc- 
casion. Many  of  those  men  will  probably  be  in 
glory,  and  see  the  face  of  God,  before  the  Confer- 
ence meets  again. 

The  large  number  of  educated  men  in  the  Con- 
ference testified  to  the  value  and  great  power  Of 
our  schools.  About  thirty  years  ago,  we  began  in 
earnest  to  invest  money  in  the  work  of  education. 
For  years  this  effort  absorbed  our  energies,  turned 
thoughts  from  other  fields,  and  really  weakened 
our  churches  and  retarded  our  growth.  Some  who 
fitted  for  the  ministry  were  unfitted  for  our  church- 


The  General  Conference.  'ji 

es,  became  discontented,  and  sought  work  in  other 
denominations.  The  waste  which  attended  our  ef- 
forts was  tremendous  and  disheartening.  A  few 
fainted  under  the  pressure,  but  the  larger  part  felt 
there  was  nothing  else  to  do  but  to  go  forward. 

The  crisis  is  past  now.  An  army  of  earnest  men 
is  at  work.  They  have  learned  to  build,  pioneer, 
adapt  themselves  to  weak  churches,  and  lead  them 
on  to  strength.  Several  have  already  become  vet- 
erans, more  have  given  full  proof  of  their  practical 
sense  to  render  education  effective.  The  evidences 
were  before  us ;  the  Conference  was  full  of  it ;  the 
change  from  thirty  years  ago  was  grateful  to  those 
who  could  compare  the  aspect  then  and  now.  As 
the  eye  passed  from  the  workers  to  their  work,  and 
swept  the  fields  represented,  fruitage  delighted  each 
beholder. 

It  was  apparent  that  the^e  is  an  increase  of  god- 
liness also.  Piety  has  advanced,  become  more 
steady,  less  impulsive  and  fitful,  and  stronger  to  do 
and  endure.  Methods  are  more  business-like  and 
orderly  ;  ideas  are  broader,  purposes  higher,  and 
appreciation  of  the  work  more  just  and  comprehen- 
sive ;  bickerings  are  rarer,  passion  better  con- 
trolled, and  feelings  more  steadily  generous. 
These  are  parts  of  the  harvest.  The  average  of 
the  ministry  now  comes  closely  up  to  the  best  we 
had  when  the  work  of  culture  began.  Hence  the 
tone  and  temper  of  the  whole  denomination  are  im- 
proved, and  a  prophecy  of  larger  results  in  the 
future  distinctly  greets  us.     Growth,  enlargement, 


72  Centennial  Record. 

prosperity  are  assured  now,  for  there  is  a  cause,  a 
force  and  power  that  assure  success.  No  other 
feature  gave  such  cheer  to  thoughtful  observers  as 
this  ;  none  other  afforded  a  higher  inspiration  and 
comfort. 

The  general  spirit  of  the  Conference  was  broad 
and  generous.  Scores  of  little  incidents  cropped 
out  all  through  its  sessions,  disclosing  this.  An  idea 
of  possibility,  opportunity  and  duty  wrought  in  the 
assembled  hearts.  They  were  not  engrossed  in  ret- 
rospect so  much  as  in  prospect ;  they  gloried  less  in 
the  past  than  they  hoped  for  the  future  ;  they  felt 
slightly  tied  to  methods  that  have  been,  and  sought 
methods  that  might  be  instrumental  in  a  larger 
work  ;  there  were  few  thoughts  of  halting  for  re- 
view, but  eagerness  to  march,  fight  and  conquer. 
A  cloud  had  hung  over  some  minds,  foreboding  ex- 
cessive conservatism,  bi^t  the  spirit  of  progress,  the 
lively  confidence  and  enlarged  hope  illuminating 
this  Conference  sent  rifts  through  the  shadow  and 
swept  it  quite  away.  It  was  singular  that  a  centen- 
nial should  take  this  turn,  and  become  more  a  horo- 
scope of  a  century  to  come,  than  a  review  of  the 
century  past.  Many  words  were  spoken  of  the 
hundred  years  behind  us,  but  thoughts,  purposes 
and  plans  were  evidently  engrossed  in  the  hundred 
years  before  us. 

The  greetings  of  delegates  from  other  religious 
bodies  added  a  pleasant  and  interesting  feature. 
The  addresses  of  Pres.  Goadby  and  Dawson  Burns, 
who  represented  the  General  Baptists  of  England, 


The   General  Conference.  73 

and  that  of  Rev.  Dr.  A.  H.  Q^iint,  a  great  grand- 
son of  Benjamin  Randall,  who  represented  the 
Congregational  National  Council,  were  full  of  fra- 
ternity and  good  cheer.  And  not  less  than  that 
could  be  said  respecting  the  delegates  from  the 
Methodist  General  Conference,  from  the  Baptist 
State  Association,  from  the  Free  Baptists  of  Nova 
Scotia,  and  the  National  Conference  of  Unitarians. 
In  the  broad,  aggressive  direction  in  which  the 
General  Conference  turned  our  thoughts,  the  de- 
nomination has  a  mission  and  assured  success. 
Obstructions  will  be  met,  hard  service  will  be  re- 
quired ;  sacrifices  will  be  needful ;  but  a  hundred 
years  will  tell  that  the  new  life  beg-un  at  Weirs 
contained  a  prophecy  and  potency  for  conquests  far 
down  the  generations.  We  are  changing  and  im- 
proving. We  have  renewed  our  youth,  and  start 
afresh  on  the  race,  the  eye  "fixed  on  the  mark," 
and  we  shall  not  "  run  in  vain."  The  aged  will  die  ; 
the  strong  grow  feeble  ;  youth  pass  to  silver  locks  ; 
generations  sweep  swiftly  on  ;  the  hundred  years 
expire,  but  the  influence  of  the  Twenty-fourth  Gen- 
eral Conference  will  never  lose  its  fragrance,  or 
cease  to  bless. 


CENTENNIAL  PIYMN. 


Written  for  the  denominational  Centennial,  i8So. 

A  hundred  years  for  prayer, 
For  truth  to  do  and  dare 

In  Jesus'  name  ; — 
The  little  one,  how  strong! 
The  few,  a  numerous  throng ! 
Sing,  sing,  in  grateful  song. 

With  loud  acclaim ! 

We  praise  the  guiding  Power 
That  brings  us  to  this  hour. 

Through  devious  ways ; 
His  presence  ever  near, 
Throughout  each  circling  year, 
Has  banished  every  fear 

And  crowned  our  days 

Our  hearts  are  glad  to-day, 
As  back  fond  memories  stray 

The  past  to  trace ; 
Glad  for  the  work  begun. 
Glad  for  the  trophies  won 
To  God's  immortal  Son, 

Through  sovereign  grace ; 

Glad  for  the  noble  men, 
Who  bravely  rallied  when 

Their  leader  called ; 
Undaunted,  firm,  and  true. 


Centennial  Hymn.  75 

They  many  a  conflict  knew ; 
But,  though  so  weak  and  few, 
Were  not  appalled. 

They  are  not  far  away ; 
They  meet  us  here  to-day, 

Those  heroes  grand ! 
How  rich  the  fruits  of  years, 
Of  toils,  of  bitter  tears ! 
Let  loud  exultant  cheers 

Ring  through  the  land ! 

Sound,  sound  the  anthem  higher. 
Awake  the  stringed  Ijxe, 

Your  voices  raise ; 
For  God's  own  loving  hand 
Has  led  our  little  band. 
Till  here  we  joyful  stand, 

To  chant  his  praise ! 

Free  Grace !     Free  Men !     Free  Will ! 
These  be  our  watch-words  still 

As  on  we  press ; 
United  heart  and  hand. 
Firm  may  we  ever  stand, 
Obeying  God's  command, 

The  world  to  bless. 


OUR  MOUNT  TABOR. 


Written  for  the  centennial  Celebration  of  the  Organiza- 
tion OF  THE  first  FREEWILL  BAPTIST  CHURCH,  AT  NEW  DURHAM, 
N.  H. 

Could  we  stand  on  the  Mount  which  the  Master  once  trod, 
Where  He  talked  with  the  prophets  and  angels  of  God, 
Where  the  three  that  He  loved  saw  His  glorified  face, 
How  sacred  and  awful  to  us  were  the  place ! 

But  why  should  Mount  Tabor  more  sacred  appear, 
Than  this  spot  where  we  stand?  for  the  Christ  has  been  here, 
And  the  loved  of  the  Father  hath  welcomed  the  King 
Where  to-day  we  have  gathered  our  tribute  to  bring. 

Around  are  the  graves  where  the  sainted  ones  lie. 
And  over  us  bends  the  blue  dome  of  the  sky — 
They  stood  where  we  stand,  they  saw  as  we  see 
These  hills  and  these  valleys  that  stretch  to  the  sea. 

They  are  here  ;  lo  !  time's  chariot  turns  back  in  its  flight ! 
The  graves  of  the  dead  disappear  from  our  sight. 
And  we  stand  in  the  midst  of  those  servants  of  God 
Whose  feet  have  made  sacred  the  blossoming  sod. 

Hark !  that  voice ! — like  the  blast  of  a  bugle,  it  fills 
These  wild  wooded  valleys,  and  loneliest  hills  ; 
Yet  'tis  gentle  and  soft  as  the  notes  of  a  dove. 
And  it  tells  the  sweet  story  of  freedom  and  love. 

That  voice!  has  a  century  passed  since  it  flung 

To  the  wondering  church  those  truths  that  have  rung 


Our  Mount   Tabor.  77 

In  her  heart  since  that  day? — free  grace  and  free  will : 
They  have  molded  her  creeds,  and  they  live  with  her  still. 

We  honor  the  brave  soul  to  whom  it  was  given 
To  scatter  these  seeds  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven ; 
And  the  years  are  his  friends,  they  nourish  and  hold. 
And  warm,  as  the  earth  does,  the  germs  they  enfold. 

Though  the  tree  that  he  planted  and  watered  with  tears, 
And  nurtured  wath  toil,  but  a  sapling  appears. 
In  the  garden  of  God  it  still  grows  in  its  place, 
And  the  sap  in  its  heart  is  the  spirit  of  grace. 

The  plant  that  a  century  gives  but  a  root 
Strikes  deep,  and  the  ages  must  wait  for  its  fruit. 
But  the  sun  of  the  centuries,  rising  sublime, 
Shall  quicken  its  blossoms,  and  smile  on  its  prime. 

It  is  good  to  be  here  "  where  in  letters  of  light 
The  past  has  recorded  its  lesson  aright ! 
It  is  good  to  be  here"  where  the  history  that  lies 
In  the  ages  to  come  unfolds  to  our  eyes. 

The  future  ! — its  germs  lie  to-day  in  our  hand. 
Like  our  fathers,  we  plant,  and  they  who  shall  stand 
A  hundred  years  hence  in  our  places,  will  tell 
That  the  harvest  is  good  if  the  sowing  is  well. 

By  the  memories  holy  that  throng  on  us  here. 
By  the  graves  of  the  past,  and  the  hopes  that  draw  near, 
By  the  love  of  our  Lord,  by  the  wants  of  the  world. 
Let  us  work  till  Christ's  banner  o'er  all  is  unfurled. 


CONFERENCE  SERMON. 


"  Thou  therefore,  my  son,  be  strong  in  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
And  the  things  that  thou  hast  heard  of  me  among  many  witnesses,  the 
same  commit  thou  to  faithful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  others  also. 
Thou  therefore  endure  hardness,  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ." — 2 
Tim.  2  :  i-j. 

We  do  well  to  recognize  the  favor  of  Providence  that  has 
brought  this  people  together  in  so  vast  numbers,  representa- 
tives of  so  many  States  and  churches,  to  hold  our  General 
Conference  in  this  unusual  time  and  place.  Is  it  not  appro- 
priate that  we  leave  our  ceiled  houses  and  our  churches  to 
come  together  in  these  forest  shades  and  rustic  buildings, 
amid  the  newness  and  inconvenience,  it  may  be,  of  narrow 
and  temporary  abodes,  to  commemorate  the  labors  of  those 
who  a  hundred  years  ago  left  homes  and  comforts  that  they 
might  make  these  regions  resound  with  the  proclamation  of 
a  free  gospel  which  they  preached  in  groves  and  in  barns,  in 
narrow  cottages  and  in  roughly  finished  chapels  and  by  the 
water-side  where  they  gathered  to  baptize? 

The  words  of  the  text  are  those  of  an  aged  and  heroic  chief- 
tain turning  over  his  command  to  a  successor.  More  pro- 
foundly exultant  than  the  brave  Wolfe,  who  died  happy  be- 
cause victorious,  this  brave  hero,  conscious  that  he  will  no 
longer  carry  on  the  warfare  in  person,  still  thinks  of  himself 
as  waging  the  war  in  the  person  of  his  spiritual  son.  So  the 
church  of  the  century  now  closed  says  to  each  of  those  who 
are  to  bear  her  trusts  into  the  future  :  "  Thou  therefore,  my 
son,  be  strong  in  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus ;  and  the 


Conference  Sermon. .  79 

things  that  thou  hast  heard  of  me  among  many  witnesses 
commit  thou  to  faithful  men  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  oth- 
ers also.  Thou  therefore  endure  hardness  with  fne*  as  a 
good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Have  we  the  right  to  assume  that  substantially  the  same 
sacred  truths  and  trusts  bequeathed  to  Timothy,  with  the 
charge  that  they  should  be  passed  on  through  men  able  to 
teach  others  also,  have  been  the  possession  of  our  fathers, 
and  are  now  transmitted  to  us? 

An  affirmative  answer  to  this  question  suggests  three  top- 
ics of  inquiry : 

1.  Through  what  line  of  transmission  have  our  fathers  re- 
ceived their  trust  ? 

2.  Have  they  borne  it  as  faithful  men? 

3.  How  shall  we  take  our  share  of  hardness  with  them  as 
good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 

The  first  of  these  questions  may  not  deserve  extended 
treatment,  but  may  we  not  be  allowed  on  this  denomination- 
al birthday,  as  is  often  done  in  family  gatherings  on  ances- 
tral anniversaries,  to  trace  our  genealogy — at  least  to  point 
out  the  roots  of  the  ancestral  tree  that  bears  as  a  branch  the 
life  we  commemorate  ?  We  shall  not  find  them  in  the  field 
of  papal  traditions  nor  along  the  line  of  external  or  political 
"apostolic  succession."  That  is  a  line  that  supports  noth- 
ing if  it  does  not  ascend  unbroken  to  the  apostles  them- 
selves ;  a  line  which  runs  back  through  dark  places  where 
nobody  can  prove  that  it  is  unbroken,  where  no  one  that  in- 
vestigates can  rationally  believe  that  it  is  unbroken. 

The  farther  this  line  can  be  traced  the  more  reason  have 
those  that  hang  their  descent  upon  it  to  blush  for  their  an- 
cestry ;   for  it  passes  through  the  murderous  inquisitors  and 


♦These  words,  "  with   me,"  are  justified  by  the  original   and  found  in  all 
modem  revisions  of  the  translation. 


So  Centcntiial  Record. 

the  debauched  indulgence-peddlers  of  the  middle  ages  and  is 
saturated  with  the  odors  of  corruption  and  with  the  blood  of 
persecution  through  which  it  ran  from  the  times  of  Constan- 
tine  to  those  of  Luther  and  Henry  the  Eighth.  But  the 
line  that  unites  our  f^ithers  with  the  apostles  is  the  spiritual 
bond  of  membership  in  the  body  of  Christ.  It  involves  loy- 
alty to  his  truth,  and  runs  invisibly  through  his  militant 
Church.  Timothy  is  Paul's  son  and  successor,  not  chiefly 
because  Paul  has  circumcised,  baptized  or  ordained  him, 
but  because  he  has  received  through  Paul  the  hfe-current 
from  the  great  heart  of  Christ  and  like  him  has  yielded  his 
spirit  and  body,  to  be  controlled  by  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church.  The  truths  and  the  mission  that  Timothy  and  his 
generation  received,  they  committed  to  other  faithful  men. 
A  hundred  years  later  we  find  Justin  Martyr,  Timothy's  vir- 
tual successor,  explaining  in  behalf  of  the  Christians  of  his 
time  that  the  ground  of  their  union  with  the  Church  is  that 
they  are  made  new  through  Christ ;  that  they  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven  by  a  new  birth ;  that  the  seal  of  that 
birth  is  immersion  in  water.  That  he  was  not  a  believer  in 
irresistible  grace,  or  the  baptism  of  unconscious  infants,  is 
clearly  implied  in  his  assertion  that  baptism  is  never  admin- 
istered except  "  to  him  who  chooses  to  be  regenerated."* 

A  hundred  years  later  TertuUian  gives  evidence,  by  pro- 
testing against  it,  that  a  custom  had  arisen  of  baptizing 
children,  and  of  having  godfathers  make  vows  for  them.  A 
custom  of  whose  existence,  prior  to  his  time,  there  is  no  evi- 
dence. 

He  lays  down  the  maxim  that  "  Whatever  was  first  is  true. 
Whatever  was  introduced  afterwards  is  corruption."  He 
protests  against  making  ordinances  precede  or  supersede  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     An  extensive  sect  shared  his  opin- 


'^i  Apology,  chap.  6i.     Clarke's  edition,  page  60. 


Conference  Sermon.  8i 

ions  and  was  condemned  by  the  growing  ritualistic  party  as 
heretical. 

A  hundred  years  more,  and  Constantine  makes  Christiani- 
ty the  established  religion  of  the  world ;  at  the  same  time 
exposing  it  to  all  the  laxity,  corruption  and  intrigue  that  al- 
ways attend  a  state  religion,  and  were  then  aggravated  to 
the  last  degree  by  the  sordidness  of  a  most  ignorant,  vicious 
and  brutal  age.  Thousands  of  nominal  Christians  who  had 
lapsed  into  idolatry  under  the  stress  of  persecution,  or  who, 
though  christened  in  infancy,  had  grown  up  in  paganism, 
were  eager  for  the  privileges  of  the  now  popular  religion. 

Two  extensive  sects,  the  Puritans  of  that  day,  protested 
against  these  corruptions,  insisting  that  whoever  came  from 
idolatry  to  the  Christian  Church,  whatever  his  past  profes- 
sions, should  come  through  the  door  of  confession  and  bap- 
tism. Both  sects  were  called,  on  this  account.  Ana-baptists, 
or  re-baptizers.  They  were,  says  a  historian,*  Trinitarian 
Baptists.  They  not  only  rebaptized  the  adults  that  came 
over  to  them,  but  refused  to  baptize  children,  as  had  become 
the  practice  in  the  self-styled  Catholic  church. 

Just  a  hundred  years  after  Constantine  published  his  de- 
cree of  universal  toleration,  the  Emperors  Theodosius  and 
Honorius  decreed  that  all  Ana-baptists  should  be  put  to 
death.  And  with  grim  judicial  humor  the  laws  more  than 
once  prescribed  that  the  form  of  punishment  should  be 
drowning.  In  northern  Africa  thousands  of  the  clergy  of 
this  faith  were  put  to  death  or  driven  from  their  parishes, 
their  congregations  deprived  of  the  rights  of  citizens  and 
of  the  privilege  of  worship.  This  was  the  age  when  Au- 
gustine was  teaching  in  the  same  country  his  doctrines  of  re- 
sistless grace  and  unconditional  reprobation ;  when  a 
council  in  Numidia,  with  him  as  its  head,  passed  the  solemn 


♦Robinson's  Ecclesiastical  Researches,  chap.  8,  pages  127,  128. 


82  Centennial  Record. 

decree  that,  "  Whosoever  denies  that  children  by  baptism 
are  freed  from  perdition  and  are  eternally  saved  ...  be 
accursed  !  "  Yet  despite  these  anathemas  of  both  the  state 
and  the  church,  there  are  proofs  that  the  sect,  everywhere 
spoken  against,  was  not  rejected  by  the  Head  of  the  Church. 

The  pure  light  of  Christianity  struggles  down  through  the 
thick  darkness  of  the  succeeding  centuries,  not  so  clearly 
within  the  estabUshed  and  so-called  universal  Church  as  in 
those  sects  that  were  driven  out  from  her.  Among  these, 
correct  morals,  simple  and  spiritual  worship  with  scriptural 
faith  and  practice,  were  preserved  in  spite  of  trials  the  most 
formidable  from  both  crowned  and  mitered  heads.  Augus- 
tine dies.  The  Vandals  break  up  the  Roman  Empire  and 
put  an  end  for  a  time  to  religious  persecutions. 

Another  hundred  years,  and  the  Saracen  Empire  breaks 
forth  from  the  East,  threatening  extermination  to  all  sects 
alike.  And  the  midnight  of  the  middle  ages  draws  on. 
But  the  light  of  the  persecuted  Ana-baptists  still  glimmers  in 
every  part  of  Christendom. 

The  centuries  wear  away.  More  and  more  the  "  apostolic  " 
Church  locks  the  Scriptures  from  the  people,  despises  the 
spirit  of  Christianity,  perverts  its  doctrines  and  transforms  its 
simple  ordinances.  The  prelates  rival  the  vices  of  the  old 
Roman  Emperors.  Crime  and  brutality  enjoy  the  dignities 
of  the  Church.  Political  intrigue  and  cruelty  wield  all  her 
vast  machinery.  Still  there  are  Christians  "  who  serve  God 
in  the  purity  of  his  worship  and  never  submit  to  the  Church 
of  Rome  ;"*  Christians  whose  doctrines  that  Church  de- 
nounced as  the  "  oldest  heresy  in  the  world,"  but  whose 
aim  was,  their  enemies  being  witnesses,!  to  teach  nothing 
and  to  submit  to  nothing  that   they  did   not  find    in   the 


*Edwards's  History  of  Redemption. 
fReimarius,  Inquisitor  General,  A.  D.,  1240. 


Conference  Sermon.  83 

New  Testament.  "  By  sending  out  missionaries,  two  by  two, 
on  foot  to  visit  their  brethren,  dispersed  in  various  countries 
of  Europe,  they  kept  alive  the  Uttle  piety  that  existed  in  the 
world  at  that  day."* 

A  thousand  years  after  Constantine,  light  from  these  se- 
cluded teachers,  breaking  forth  through  clouds  of  ignorance 
and  storms  of  papal  hate,  foretokens  the  end  of  the  night  of 
history,  A  pope  frantically  invokes  the  swords  of  all  the 
faithful  to  extirpate  these  Christians.  The  army  of  the  in- 
quisition is  enrolled.  Crusades  are  inaugurated.  With  a 
cruelty  surpassing  that  of  Herod  at  Bethlehem,  many  large 
cities  were  depopulated  as  the  only  sure  way  of  destroying 
the  heresy  with  which  they  were  infected.  Only  eternity 
can  reveal  the  horrors  that  resounded  through  the  increasing 
darkness,  from  fields  of  carnage  where  no  sex,  no  age,  was 
spared,!  and  from  the  dark  halls  where  the  perpetual  clank- 
ing of  the  machinery  of  the  inquisition  mingled  with  the 
groans  of  its  broken  and  dying  victims,  while  the  last 
three  centuries  of  this  night  of  superstition  and  blood  are 
dragging  wearily  by.  The  so-called  heretics  on  whom 
Rome  thus  waged  a  war  of  ages,  were  not  homogeneous 
sects  held  together  by  creed  and  confession  as  in  modern 
times.  They  had  many  diversities,  yet  in  every  century  and 
through  widely  severed  nations  they  were  united  by  the 
common  bond  reaching  down  to  them  from  the  apostles, 
viz. :  Loyalty  to  the  simple  word  of  Christ  against  all  tradi- 
tions of  men. 

The  early  names,  Donatists,  Novatianists,  &:c.,  do  not 
often  reappear,  because  in  each  language  and  for  each 
fresh  champion,  a  new  nickname  is  given.  In  the  forests 
(or  waldesi)    of  Piedmont    it   is    the    Waldenses.     Round 


•Dr.  Baird,  Quoted  by  Benedict,  page  35. 

tDe  Sismondi's  History  of  the  Crusades  against  the  Albigenses. 


84  Centennial  Reco7'd. 

Albiga  in  France,  the  Albigenses,  and  the  Poor  men  of 
Lyons.  In  Central  Europe  the  Lollards,  or  Psalm  Singers, 
and  after  them  the  Wycliffites,  Hussites  and  many  others. 
Still  the  name  Ana-baptist  survived,  till  the  doctrine  it  desig- 
nates gave  rise  to  the  Mennonites  on  the  continent  and  the 
Baptists  in  England,  of  whom  the  Church  historian,  Thos. 
Fuller,  said,  "  They  are  in  the  main  but  Donatists  new- 
dipped." 

*A  prominent  charge  against  those  who  bore  these  names, 
from  the  time  of  Augustine  down  to  Luther,  was  that  they  re- 
fused to  regard  as  baptized  those  who  received  this  ordi- 
nance in  infancy.  One  of  the  tests  employed  to  discover  the 
Albigenses,  of  whom  some  say  a  million  were  put  to  death  in 
France,  was  to  require  the  suspected  persons  to  affirm  that 
infants  are  saved  by  baptism.  Baptist  historians  have  collect- 
ed, with  great  industry,  the  proofs  that  Peter  Waldo  of  the 
Waldenses,  Walter  Lollard  of  the  Lollards,  with  many  of 
their  associates  and  followers,  together  with  the  sect  called 
Picards  in  France,  and  multitudes  of  Christians  in  Bohe- 
mia and  Moravia,  practiced  only  immersion  as  baptism. 
Yet,  of  another  fact,  to  which  far  less  prominence  has  been 
given,  the  evidence  is  still  more  conclusive,  viz. :  that  few  of 
these  were  behevers  in  a  restricted  atonement,  and  none  of 
them  in  a  restricted  communion.  The  Ana-baptist  church- 
es of  Germany  and  Switzerland,  though  totally  rejecting  in- 
fant baptism,  were  by  no  means  made  up  wholly  of  immers- 
ed believers. 

Like  the  Waldenses,  they  cherished  the  largest  liberty  of 
conscience,  and  were  ready  to  furnish  an  asylum  for  all  who 
were  persecuted  by  the  established  church. f     Cliristians  of 


*Robinson's  Ecclesiastical  Researches — Knight's  History  of  the  General 
Baptists,    pp.  129,  130. 

tStarck's  Hist.  pp.  115-118.  See  Benedict  p.  72.  Doubtless  being  min- 
gled with  so  many  who,  though  they  kept  the  original  purpose  of  baptism. 


Conference  Sermon.  85 

this  description  were  not  confined  to  the  continent  of  Eu- 
rope. In  the  fourteenth  century  half  the  population  of  Eng- 
land were  pronounced  Lollards.  These  prepared  the  soil 
and  sowed  the  seed,  whehce  sprang  the  English  reforma- 
tion.* 

Here  may  we  trace  the  doctrinal  ancestry  of  modern 
Freewill  Baptists.  Five  hundred  years  ago  this  summer, 
Wycliffe  gave  to  the  English  people  the  Bible  in  their  own 
tongue.  With  this  or  some  part  of  its  manuscript  pages  hid- 
den in  their  robes,  his  poor  priests  went  preaching  in  secret 
from  house  to  house  throughout  England.  Thus  was  dif- 
fused the  light  that,  like  dawn  before  the  sunrise,  preceded 
the  Reformation.  Prague  of  Bohemia  was  then  the  largest, 
most  wealthy  and  influential  city  of  Germany.  Jerome  and 
other  students  of  its  University  went  to  Oxford  in  pursuit  of 
English  learning.  They  sympathized  with  Wycliffe,  carried 
home  his  writings  and  made  the  University  of  Prague  a  cen- 
ter for  their  dissemination.  Before  the  breaking  out  of  the 
persecution  in  which  Jerome  and  Huss  were  sent  to  the 
stake,  Bohemia  was  full  of  converts  to  Wycliffe's  doctrines. 
The  manuscripts  that  were  seized,  condemned  and  burnt 
because  containing  these  doctrines,  were  numbered  by  hun- 
dreds of  thousands.  A  hundred  years  after  the  council  of 
Constance  ordered  the  bones  of  Wycliffe  to  be  dug  up  and 
burned,  a  writer  from  Bohemia  describes  the  sentiments  of 
that  reformer's  followers,  in  these  words  :  "  They  receive  no 
other  rule  than  the  Bible.  They  admit  none  into  their  com- 
munion till  they  be  dipped  in  water,  or  baptized.     And  they 


had  disregarded  the  original  act,  greatly  weakened  the  protest  of  the  Ana- 
baptists against  the  preservation  by  Luther  of  the  papal  practice  of  infant 
sprinkling,  and  prepared  the  way  for  so  many  of  them  to  unite  with  the  Lu- 
therans in  accepting  it. 

•Benedict's  History  of  Baptists,  chap,  vi.,  pp.  305-310. 


86  Centennial  Record. 

reckon  one  another,  without  distinction  of  rank,  as  brothers 
and  sisters."* 

The  date  just  mentioned  brings  us  into  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, the  era  of  the  Reformation.  The  new  art  of  printing 
had  made  it  possible  for  the  hght,  kindled  by  Wycliffe  and  by 
Huss,  to  be  universally  diffused.  In  spite  of  both  church 
and  state,  William  Tyndale  fulfilled  his  threat  to  make  the 
plowboys  know  more  of  the  Scriptures  than  the  priests  had 
known.  The  priests  were,  perhaps,  not  misrepresented  by 
that  one  who  told  his  parishioners  that  certain  monks  had  in- 
vented a  wicked  book,  called  the  New  Testament,  in  Greek, 
with  which  they  intended  to  destroy  the  church.  We 
should  not  go  to  such  an  age,  and  to  men  engrossed  in  a 
life-and-death  struggle  over  the  question,  "Shall  all  the 
people  have  the  Bible,"  for  learned  speculations  on  those 
subjects  with  which  Milton  says  the  outcast  angels  amused 
themselves,  when  they 

" reasoned  high 

Of  providence,  foreknowledge,  will  and  fate." 

But  we  may  expect  those  who  were  earning  the  cro's\Ti  of 
martyrdom   by   bringing   the   Scriptures   from   the   original 
tongues  into  the  language  of  the  common  people  to  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  the  positive  commands  of  Christ. 
Tyndale  says  of  baptism  :  "  The  plunging  into  the  water 


♦Letter  from  Bohemia  to  Erasmus,  Oct.  lo,  1519.  This  probably  does  not 
apply  to  all  the  anti-papal  Christians  of  Bohemia  at  this  time,  for  they  com- 
prised three-fourths  of  the  population.  Yet  there  had  been  large  sects,  or 
communities,  of  Baptists  in  Bohemia  at  an  earlier  date.  One  of  these  came 
from  the  Picards  of  France ;  others  descended  from  the  Waldenses.  On 
the  very  year  in  which  the  Puritans  landed  in  New  England,  Ferdinand 
the  Second,  having  conquered  Bohemia,  resolved  to  extirpate  heresy  from 
his  dominions  and  began  with  the  Igaptists,  ordering  them  on  pain  of  death 
(in  harvest  time)  to  leave  their  country  in  three  weeks.  Knight's  Hist,  of 
General  Baptists,  pp.  20,  21. 


Conference  Sermon.  87 

signifieth  that  we  die  and  are  buried  with  Christ,  as  con- 
cerning the  old  life  of  sin  which  is  in  Adam.  And  the  pull- 
ing out  again  signifieth  that  we  rise  again  with  Christ  in 
new  life.  ,  .  Ask  the  people  what  they  understand 
by  their  baptism,  or  washing.  For  the  plunging  into  water 
.  .  .  betokeneth  .  .  .  that  Christ  hath  washed  our  souls  in 
his  blood." 

John  Frith,  a  companion  with  Tyndale  in  the  work  of  Bi- 
ble translation,  having  proved  that  the  material  water  gives  no 
grace,  and  having  strongly  denounced  the  idea  that  infants 
must  be  baptized  in  order  to  their  regeneration,  speaks  of 
behevers'  baptism  as  follows:  "A  Christian  man's  life  is 
nothing  more  than  a  continual  baptism  which  is  begun 
when  we  are  dipped  in  water.  The  sign  in  baptism  is  the 
plunging  down  into  the  material  water  and  lifting  up  again, 
by  the  which,  as  by  an  outward  badge,  we  are  known 
to  be  of  that  number  which  profess  Christ  to  be  their 
Redeemer  and  Saviour."  Baptism,  he  explains,  is  to  be 
performed  precisely  as  the  apostles  administered  it.  And 
shows  what  their  manner  was  by  reference  to  the  baptism  of 
the  Eunuch  by  Philip.* 

In  the  next  generation  Baptists  bore  their  full  share  of 
the  persecutions  of  Bloody  Mary,  and  they  continued  to 
furnish  subjects  for  the  Lollard's  Tower,  and  \hz  rires  of 
Smithfield  after  the  accession  of  Elizabeth.f 


*Conant's  History  of  the  Eng.  Bible,  pp.  210,  211,  note. 

tThe  separation  of  the  Puritans  into  Baptists  and  Pedo-Baptists  did  not 
begin  in  New  England  with  the  banishment  of  Roger  Williams.  It  began 
earlier  among  the  Puritan  refugees  in  Holland,  with  the  expulsion  of 
Rev.  John  Smyth  for  avowing  "a  disbelief  of  personal  election  and  reproba- 
tion and  a  rejection  of  both  infant  baptism  and  sprinkling  as  unscriptural." 
Like  Roger  Williams  and  Benjamin  Randall,  he  did  not  withdraw  by  refusing 
to  fellowship  those  who  did  not  agree  with  him  in  these  respects,  but  he  was 
cast  out  by  them.  The  immediate  cause  of  his  being  disfellowshiped  ap- 
pears to  have  been  a  discussion  between  the  Bishop  of  Ely  and  Mr.  Robin- 


88  Centennial  Record. 

The  earliest  Puritan  Baptist  churches  taught  the  same 
views  as  those  held  by  our  brethren  of  the  New  Connection 
of  General  Baptists  and  by  ourselves.  The  foundation 
for  the  distinction  of  English  Baptists  into  General  and  Par- 
ticular was  not  laid  till  1633,  when  a  small  number  withdrew 
from  those  holding  the  doctrine  of  a  general  atonement, 
and  formed  a  distinct  body  accepting  the  doctrines  of 
Augustine  as  revived  and  propagated  by  the  fiery  Calvin  and 
the  stern  John  Knox. 

The  Christian  life  whose  progress  we  have  been  tracing 
through  the  corruptions  of  the  dark  ages,  is  hke  those  moun- 
tain streams  of  Judea,  that  in  some  places  flow  invisibly 
through  caverns,  to  break  out  at  length  as  from  a  near 
fountain ;  or  like  springs  in  a  swamp  which  permeate  all 
the  soil,  but  gather  themselves  in  a  stream  only  as  they 
find  an  outlet  from  the  flat  ground.  In  times  when  storms 
of  persecution  were  added  to  the  darkness  of  ignorance 
these  Christians  may  have  been  unseen,  except  by  each  oth- 
er, like  the  seven  thousand  whom  God  reserved  to  himself 
when  the  nation  of  his  chosen  were  following  after  Baal. 
But  when  the  clouds  of  persecution  lifted,  the  world  was  sur- 
prised at  their  numbers. 


son,  another  nonconformist  minister  of  the  same  church  with  Smyth.  The 
Bishop's  argument  in  substance  was :  since  our  baptism  (sprinkling)  rests 
on  the  authority  of  the  church,  if  you  accept  our  baptism  you  must  acknowl- 
edge the  authority  of  the  church.  "There  is  no  remedy,  you  must  go  for- 
ward to  anabaptism  or  come  back  to  us.  All  our  Rabbins  can  not  answer 
the  charge  of  your  baptized  brother  (Smyth).  You  must  forward  to  him  or 
back  to  us."  Instead  of  accepting  either  alternative  his  brethren  drove  him 
from  them  and  loaded  his  opinions  with  reproach.  But  Mr.  Smyth  contin- 
ued to  preach  and  also  to  write  in  defense  of  his  faith.  Very  soon  he  gath- 
ered a  church,  which  immediately  became  the  seed-corn  for  many  churches 
in  England,  which  disseminated  in  spite  of  prosecutions,  imprisonments  and 
incredible  opprobrium,  the  doctrine  of  universal  grace  and  scriptural 
baptism.* 


•(See  Kiii«lU's  History  of  the  General  Bajjtists,  pp.  25—28.) 


Conference  Sermon.  89 

The  sentiments  of  Free  Baptists  are  a  stream  which,  fol- 
lowed to  its  source,  brings  us  to  Pentecost  and  to  the  Ascen- 
sion and  to  Him  who  went  with  John  into  the  Jordan  that 
He  might  fulfill  all  righteousness. 

The  State-supported  Protestantism  of  Europe  came  out 
from  Rome  in  the  sixteenth  century,  bringing  some  things 
that  were  better  left  behind.  That  of  England  was  born  of 
a  compromise  with  Romanism.  Calvinism  is  as  old  as  Au- 
gustine. Pedo-baptism  is  descended  from  Popery,  which  is 
as  ancient  as  the  persecution  of  one  organized  body  of 
Christians  by  another.  But  Baptists  of  the  Arminian  type 
are  among  the  original  and  perpetual  Protestants — protestants. 
against  putting  the  decrees  of  a  church  in  place  of  the  laws 
of  Christ. 

Their  doctrines  of  a  universal  atonement,  of  equality  of 
rights  for  all  believers,  of  the  freedom  of  the  human  will,  of 
the  supremacy  of  conscience  for  the  individual,  and  of  the 
baptism  of  believers  and  believers  only,  in  the  name  of  the 
Trinity,  claim  a  nobler  parentage,  and  an  earlier  birth.  The 
true  source  of  the  Church's  form,  as  well  as  of  her  strength, 
is  the  indwelling  word  and  spirit  of  Christ,  and  however 
both  form  and  manifestation  of  life  may  change  with  times 
and  circumstances,  yet  whatever  church  though  like  Melchis- 
edec  without  apparent  descent,  has  imbibed  the  spirit  and 
incarnated  the  law  of  Christ,  is  in  the  holy  succession,  is  com- 
missioned to  pass  on  the  torch  which  was  Ufted  up  at  the 
beginning  of  the  line  eighteen  centuries  ago.  It  was  from 
contact  with  the  Spirit  and  the  Word  that  Roger  Williams 
came  into  the  Baptist  family.  He  was  born  into  an  atmos- 
phere in  which  some  mists  from  the  dark  ages  were  still  lin- 
gering, and  where  not  only  the  right  to  the  name  and  the  com- 
munion of  saints,  but  the  right  to  be  was  restricted  to  those 
of  the  established  faith  and  order.  But  he  was  bom  free. 
The   churches   he   founded,  if  classified   according    to  the 


po  Centennial  Record. 

English  division,  would  have  fallen  into  the  rank  of  General 
Baptists  and  not  into  that  of  Particular  or  Calvinistic  Bap- 
tists, in  which  most  of  them  came  a  hundred  years  later  to  be 
classed.  Some  of  them,  however,  with  their  descendants, 
continued  the  original  organization  calling  itself  The  General 
Baptists  of  North  America.  Several  churches  once  belong- 
dng  to  that  denomination  are  now  constituents  of  the  body 
assembled  here — one  of  these  appropriately  bearing  the 
name  of  "The  Roger  Williams  Church." 

The  Puritanism  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  shrouded 
in  an  atmosphere  of  lifeless  formalism  in  which  piety  was 
suffocating.  The  preaching  of  Whitefield  smote  that  atmos- 
phere as  with  an  electric  flash,  bringing  into  it  healthful  ele- 
ments but  not  destroying  its  malaria.  The  multitudes  that 
were  roused  to  spiritual  life  through  his  agency  required  new 
churches,  in  which  that  hfe  might  have  unhindered  action. 
Whitefield  gave  to  them  neither  form  of  organization  nor 
method  of  ordinances.  Going  to  the  New  Testament  for 
these,  great  numbers  of  them  became  Baptists.  The  doc- 
trinal bias  of  Whitefield's  magnetic  preaching,  however, 
tended  to  confirm  them  in  the  high  Calvinism  in  which  all 
had  been  educated ;  for  no  voice  of  any  teacher  in  the 
land  was  lifted  up  in  favor  of  a  more  impartial  interpretation 
of  the  provisions  of  the  gospel.  Yet  here  and  there  a  few 
individuals  or  a  church,  renouncing  the  prevailing  belief, 
maintained  that  man  is  free  and  the  atonement  general. 
One  such  church  still  survives  in  Mass.,  as  a  Freewill  Bap- 
tist church.  Another  in  Connecticut  was  so  called  a  gen- 
eration ago.  And  from  others  of  the  same  State  and  of 
Rhode  Island  went  the  colonists  who  founded  that  portion 
of  our  denomination  in  New  York  known,  till  1841,  as  The 
Free  Communion  Baptists.  From  Whitefield  came  the  first 
powerful  influence  to  Benjamin  Randall — that  which  led  to 
his  conversion.      The  second,  that  which  showed  that  his 


Conference  Sermon.  91 

conversion  had  made  him  a  reformer,  came  througli  one  of 
the  separatist  ministers,  who  followed  Whitefield.  The  third 
came  when  the  constraining  love  of  Christ,  borne  in  upon  his 
soul,  as  in  a  meeting  he  stood  up  to  read  the  Scriptures,  sur- 
prised him  into  preaching  in  spite  of  himself  This 
made  him  a  missionary.  The  fourth,  and  perhaps  no  less 
important  than  the  first,  was  wlien,  like  Moses  in  Midian,  he 
was  alone  with  God,  when,  as  he  said,  he  knew  not 
whether  he  was  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body,  but  knew 
that  the  Scriptures  were  opened  to  his  understanding.*  This 
made  him  an  exegete.  It  did  not  make  his  opinions  infal- 
lible. Even  Paul,  though  inspired,  does  not  claim  infalli- 
bility. 

Having  thus  shown  that  there  can  be  no  remoter  descent 
and  no  loftier  pedigree  for  any  church  than  that  of  this 
latest-born  and  as  yet  smallest  of  the  evangelical  denomina- 
tions, we  may  also  point  to  her  characteristics  and  her  work 
as  placing  her  in  an  honorable  position,  and  assigning  her 
an  important  trust  among  the  noble  bands  of  Christ's  mili- 
tant host. 

Our  heroic  Puritan  ancestors  braved  their  sufferings  in  the 
new  world,  that  they  might  secure  "  liberty  to  worship  ac- 
cording to  the  dictates  of  their  own  conscience  " — with  the 
emphasis  upon  "their  own,"  not  upon  liberty  of  "con- 
science." Having  fled  to  a  desolate  land  for  room  to  en- 
joy opinions  they  held  as  right,  they  saw  no  duty  to  tolerate 
any  other  belief.  The  peculiar  features  of  that  stem  period, 
and  of  institutions  built  on  the  type  of  the  Old  Testament 
rather  than  the  New,  continued  longer  than  we,  in  this  age, 
are  wont  to  think. 

To  whip  Quakers  and  banish  Baptists  was  to  defend  the 
peace  of  the  church,  and  was  considered  right  in  principle 

♦History  of  the  Freewill  Baptists  by  Rev.  I.  D.  Stewart,  chap,  i,  section  3. 


92  Centennial  Record. 

in  the  eighteenth  century  as  it  had  been  in  the  seventeenth. 
But  "Seventy-six"  put  an  end  to  the  divine  right  of  kings; 
and  the  time  came  for  an  end  of  the  exckisive  sway  of  a 
State-supported  church.  Only  by  a  revival  of.  spiritual  relig- 
ion could  the  crisis  of  a  separation  of  church  and  state  be 
safely  passed.  It  is  largely  due  to  the  revival  preachers  who 
evangelized  the  country,  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  the 
"Standing  order,"  that  that  order  became  the  progressive, 
spiritual,  liberal  body  that  she  now  is.  Infant  sprinkling  and 
the  "  half-way  covenant "  had  opened  the  doors  of  the 
church  to  unconverted  persons,  who  sought  to  enter  it  that 
they  might  vote  and  be  eligible  to  office.  The  citizens  were 
the  church.  They  elected  the  minister,  as  they  did  the 
constable,  on  town-meeting  day;  paying  his  stipend  by  a 
legal  tax  on  all  property-holders ;  and  the  tenure  of  his  of- 
fice was  expected  to  last  as  long  as  he  might  be  able  to 
write  and  read  sermons,  and  visit  the  district  schools. 

Strong  election  doctrines  had  borne  legitimate  fruit  in  the 
quite  general  conclusion  that,  since  God  had  from  eternity 
fixed  the  number  of  his  own,  the  special  call  of  His  Spirit 
made  it  superfluous  to  persuade  men  to  repent,  or  even  to 
pray  for  the  conversion  of  children.  Ministers  chose  their 
profession  as  the  lawyer  chose  his,  or  simply  that  they  might 
enjoy  an  honored  position.  Many  of  them  failed  to  teach 
the  need  of  repentance  and  conversion.  Some  plainly 
avowed  their  ignorance  of  any  such  experience  and  their 
disbelief  in  its  importance.  The  claim  by  any  person  to 
have  present  assurance  of  forgiveness  and  of  fellowship  with 
God  was  to  them  clear  proof  of  hypocrisy  or  fanaticism. 

These  are  some  of  the  characteristics  of  the  church  ot  that 
day.  With  its  spirit  Randall,  himself  a  church-member,  was 
in  full  sympathy  until  his  conversion.  But  when  he  gave  him- 
self wholly  to  Christ  and  ardently  engaged  in  His  service,  that 
spirit  resisted  and  repelled  him.     Being  thus  alone,  he  goes 


Conference  Sermon.  93 

for  direction  on  each  question  of  duty,  with  redoubled  ear- 
nestness, to  the  Bible.  He  becomes  troubled,  amazed,  at 
finding  there  is  no  Scriptural  warrant  for  regarding  the  cere- 
monial sprinkling  either  of  his  infant  child  or  of  himself  as 
baptism.  In  his  perplexity  he  resolves  to  visit  and  consult 
a  certain  brother  of  kindred  spirit.  On  his  way  he  meets 
that  brother  coming  to  tell  him  of  the  same  trials  about  the 
same  question  of  duty.  The  result  is  that  both  become 
Baptists  ;  and  in  due  time  a  denomination  arises,  having  for 
its  motto,  "  The  Scriptures,  our  only  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice." 

If  those  who  adopted  this  motto  were  "  Separatists  "  it 
was  not  from  choice. 

They  were  no  schismatics  thirsting  for  notoriety.  As  the 
apostles,  simply  loyal  to  Jesus  and  proclaiming  the  truth  he 
had  taught  them,  anticipated  no  separation  from  their 
countrymen  till  persecution  drove  them  forth,  the  Spirit 
prompting  them  as  they  went  to  preach,  so  our  fathers 
thought  not  of  founding  a  sect,  till  the  acts  of  excision  per- 
formed by  others  showed  the  new  sect  already  in  exist- 
ence. God,  by  His  providence,  had  said,  "  Separate  these 
men  for  a  work  whereto  I  have  called  them."  With  no  de- 
traction from  the  credit  due  to  other  bands  of  the  faithful 
soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  may  be  said  that  the  work  that 
was  committed  to  our  fathers  was  undertaken  in  an  apostolic 
spirit.  It  was  apostolic  in  its  motive  and  in  its  methods,  in 
its  doctrines  and  its  phases  of  experience.  Unlike  most 
in  his  day,  Randall  seems  to  have  refrained  from  at- 
tacking the  opinions  of  other  Christians.  It  was  only 
when  asked  why  he  did  not  preach  Calvinism,  which 
was  then  regarded  as  an  indispensable  element  of  the 
gospel,  that  he  said,  "  I  do  not  believe  it."  And  when, 
after  two  days  of  labor  in  council,  withdrawal  of  fellowship 
was  announced,  his  reply  was  equally  calm  and  confident 


Q4  Centennial  Record. 

showing  the  depth  of  his  conviction,  and  a  will  that  could 
stand  alone  with  God.  "  It  makes  no  odds  who  disowns 
me,  so  long  as  God  owns  me ;"  a  response  unconsciously 
resembling  that  world-convulsing  reply  of  Luther's  :  "  I 
cannot  change  :  God  help  me." 

A  proof  of  the  presence  of  an  apostolic  spirit  in  Randall 
and  his  associates,  is  found  in  the  meekness  and  courage  with 
which  they  bore  ostracism  and  persecution.  The  very  name 
which  they  at  length  accepted  was  given  them  as  a  reproach. 
The  opposition  which  early  Freewill  Baptists  met  need  not  be 
recalled  to  the  discredit  of  other  denominations,  certainly  not 
of  those  denominations  as  they  exist  to-day.  The  persecu- 
tions sprang  out  of  human  nature.  That  they  were  not 
such  as  Baptists  had  been  suffering  for  fourteen  centuries, 
is  due  to  advancing  Christian  civilization.  But  they 
were  sufficient  to  attest  the  presence  of  a  patient,  thank- 
ful spirit,  and  to  reveal  the  kindly  personal  care  of  the 
Heavenly  Father,  where  a  ruder  age  might  have  seen  mir- 
acles :  as  for  example,  when  the  mob  in  pursuit  of  Ran- 
dall curbed  its  rage  so  as  to  leave  the  coat  of  tar  and  feath- 
ers, with  which  they  had  sworn  to  cover  the  sail-making 
preacher,  on  the  posts  of  the  gate  where  they  lay  in  wait  for 
him  ;  or  still  more  plainly  when  another  mob,  that  had  gath- 
ered to  turn  him  back,  divided  at  his  undaunted  approach, 
and  had  not  a  man  who  dared  to  return  his  kindly  salutation 
in  other  than  respectful  words ;  or  when  the  officer,  sent  to 
warn  Tingley  out  of  town,  became  so  confounded  that  voice 
as  well  as  courage  failed  him  for  the  delivery  of  his  message ; 
or  when  Bowles  in  Vermont  cowed  a  fierce  and  determined 
mob,  with  a  sermon  from  the  text,  "  Ye  serpents,  ye  genera- 
tion of  vipers,  how  can  ye  escape  the  damnation  of  hell  !  " 

Another  thing  for  which  we  may  honor  them  as  exhibiting 
the  apostolic  spirit  was  the  disposition  to  be  ever  pushing  in- 
to the  regions  beyond.      With  the  same  spirit  which  survived 


Conference  Sermon.  95 

in  Colby  and  Marks  and  Elias  Hutchins,  making  them  loved 
and  honored  by  so  many  who  are  still  with  us,  the  East  and 
the  West,  the  dominion  of  Canada  and  the  land  of  the  slave, 
were  alike  within  their  field.'  That  which  distinguished  them 
is  that  they  did  not  wait  to  be  called,  sent  or  sustained,  other 
than  by  the  command,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  "  and  the 
promise,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  always."  Another  characteris- 
tic, which  was  no  accidental  peculiarity  but  a  most  essential- 
ly Christ-like  trait,  was  the  motive  with  which  they  labored. 
This  motive  was  love  for  men.  To  them  it  was  a  most  signif- 
icant and  vivid  reality  that  Christ  had  died  for  all  men,  and 
that  they  who  had  been  made  alive  by  Him  should  live 
henceforth  not  unto  themselves  but  to  save  men  for  whom  He 
died.  Tears  of  pity  for  their  fellowmen  fell  in  solitude  as 
they  journeyed  and  prayed  for  the  conversion  of  the  world. 

They  did  not  shun  doctrinal  discussion,  and  they  proclaim- 
ed no  truce  with  sin,  but  their  appeals  to  men  were  usually  in 
language  of  deep  sympathy  and  strong  affection.  Christian 
love  is  both  a  purpose  and  a  feeling ;  the  one  is  constant,  the 
other  occasional.  One  is  the  root  and  the  trunk  of  Christian 
life,  the  other  its  blossom  and  fruit  whose  coming  depends 
both  on  the  root  and  on  outward  circumstances  of  shower 
and  sun. 

Their  love  was  characterized  by  depth  and  fervor  of  feel- 
ing. Kindling  its  like  in  others,  it  drew  Christians  in  crowds 
to  the  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Meetings,  and  sometimes  made 
those  gatherings  seasons  of  pentecostal  joy  and  power. 
How  it  thrills  one  to  read  of  the  occasions  in  which  business, 
and  even  preaching,  were  postponed  for  a  whole  day  while 
Christians  worshiped  and  praised,  or  instructed  and  prayed 
with  those  who  were  asking,  often  in  overpowering  agony  of 
earnestness,  for  the  way  to  pardon  and  peace.* 


•History  of  F.  Baptists,  pp.  150,  156. 


96  Centennial  Record. 

But  their  love  was  not  merely  emotional ;  it  was  strong  in 
the  permanent  element  of  benevolent  purpose.  Seeking  the 
kingdom  of  God,  it  sought  the  welfare  of  humanity.  Love, 
nourished  by  habitual  communion  with  God  and  constant 
study  of  his  Word,  gave  to  those  early  preachers  wonderful 
power  as  winners  of  men. 

A  circular  letter  from  the  original  Quarterly  Meeting  in 
the  very  first  year  of  its  existence  (1784),  expressing  their 
longing  that  the  knowledge  of  God  may  cover  the  earth, 
and  beseeching  the  brethren  and  sisters  to  pray  and  labor 
that  the  love,  mercy  and  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  may 
be  known  all  around,  and  if  possible  through  the  whole 
world,  illustrates  the  missionary  spirit  in  which  our  churches 
had  their  origin. 

The  same  unquenchable  philanthropy  inspired  the  evan- 
gelists of  the  succeeding  generation.  It  glowed  in  White, 
Lamb,  Phinney,  Marks  and  Colby,  who  with  his  solemn, 
awakening  singing,  and  tender,  pungent  preaching,  was  a 
Moody  and  Sankey  in  one. 

When  we  consider  the  circumstances  under  which  they 
traveled  and  preached,  not  merely  unheralded  by  the  press 
and  unassisted  by  the  ministers  and  churches  of  the 
land,  but  contemned  by  the  established  denominations, 
and  debarred  from  the  pulpits  everywhere,  the  results  of 
their  evangelistic  labors  may  be  pronounced  more  marvel- 
ous than  those  of  the  foremost  evangelist  of  our  time. 
When  the  cry  came  from  far  Hindoostan  for  some  one  to 
bring  the  light  to  that  dark  land,  the  same  spirit,  in  spite  of 
the  fewness  and  the  poverty  of  our  churches,  made  prompt 
response.  That  response  has  incarnated  itself  in  our  For- 
eign Mission  Society  and  its  work. 

The  same  spirit  of  Christian  philanthropy  led  our  people 
more  than  a  half  century  ago,  before  total  abstinence  societies 
were    inaugurated,   to  lift  up  a  standard,  not  by    personal 


Conference  Sermon.  97 

example  alone,  but  by  organic  action,  against  the  drinking 
customs  of  the  time.  Many  times  did  F.  Baptist  ministers 
jeopardize  friendship,  position  and  bread  for  their  fam- 
ilies, if  not  even  life  itself,  by  the  fidelity  of  their  opposition 
to  the  trade  of  the  drunkard-maker.  The  venerable  preach- 
er* who  just  now  led  our  devotions  was  assailed  by  the 
minions  of  a  dramshop,  while  standing  before  the  window  of 
his  own  house.  A  shower  of  stones,  hurled  with  murderous 
force  and  aim,  demolished  the  window,  though  not  one 
touched  him  ! 

It  was  the  same  love,  growing  out  of  their  faith  that 
Christ  died  for  all  men,  that  made  our  fathers  at  the  cost  of 
still  greater  perils  and  losses,  pioneers  in  the  agitation  for 
the  emancipation  of  the  slaves.  The  truest  philanthropy 
and  the  loftiest  purpose  inspired  that  agitation.  Nerves  tin- 
gle yet  at  the  memory  of  the  reply  of  Moulton  to  the  plea,  . 
"  Your  agitation  only  tightens  the  cords  of  their  bondage," 
"Then  we  will  tighten  those  cords  till  they  break." 

But  if  the  early  F.  Baptists  were  apostolic  in  spirit,  they 
were  not  less  so  in  their  polity.  Time  would  fail  in  mentioning 
the  facts  that  show  how  scrupulously  they  followed  apostolic 
models.  While  the  early  ministers  "  went  everywhere 
preaching  the  Word,"  they  " ordained  elders  in  every  church" 
to  aid  both  in  government  and  instruction.  But  a  clear  dis- 
tinction was  maintained  between  these  ruling  (or  lay)  elders 
and  the  evangelists  and  pastors ;  though  they  also  were  ex- 
pected to  preach  as  they  were  able,  and  some  of  them  be- 
came, by  general  consent,  or  by  another  ordination,  evan- 
gelists. 

The  Quarterly  Meeting  grew  out  of  the  first  church ;  and 
the  Yearly  Meeting  out  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting ;  just  as 
the  patriarchate  grew  out  of  the  family.  The  actions  of 
Quarterly  and  Yearly  Meetings  were  not  merely   suggestive, 


*Kev,  John  Chaney. 


98  Centennial  Record. 

but  positive  and  generally  beneficent  and  final,  like  the 
"  decrees"  of  the  apostles  (Acts  16  :4-).  Ministers,  in  chang- 
ing their  fields  of  labor,  whether  for  a  brief  time  or  perma- 
nently, were  expected  to  receive  the  advice  of  their  breth- 
ren, either  assembled  in  council  for  that  purpose,  or  in 
Quarterly  Meeting  conference.  For  a  time  the  ministers' 
conference  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  at  its  session,  or  by  a 
standing  committee,  assigned  to  pastors  and  evangelists  their 
fields  of  labor. 

Extreme  caution  was  exercised  not  10  lay  ordaining 
hands  on  any  person  until  it  was  proved,  firsts  that  he  could 
preach,  and  second,  that  he  possessed  a  character  above  re- 
proach ;  nor  until  he  had  been  tried  sufficiently  long  to  show 
a  reasonable  prospect  that  he  would  continue  to  exhibit 
common  sense  and  inflexible  integrity.  The  experiences 
that  have  resulted  from  departing  from  these  features  of  the 
early  church  polity  have  not  proved  that  the  fathers  were 
unwise,  but  rather  that  we  do  well  to  "  ask  after  the  old 
paths." 

In  regard  to  our  doctrines  it  is  utmecessary  to  cite  proof 
that  they  are  apostolic.  There  they  stand,  and  there  is  the 
Bible  wlience  they  were  derived.  More  and  more  the  universal 
Church  is  coming  to  •realize  that  Christianity,  as  a  divine 
scheme,  is  a  manifestation  of  impartial  benevolence.  The  teach- 
ers quietly  ignore,  or  the  people  repudiate,  harsh  statements 
and  interpretations  of  doctrine  from  the  old  platforms.  In  spite 
of  keeping  the  old  standards  in  the  schools,  in  spite  of  occa- 
sional protests  and  affirmations  that  the  Augustinian  and 
Calvinistic  names  are  essential  to  doctrinal  soundness  or  re- 
spectability, all  the  so-called  Calvinistic  sects  are  gravita- 
ting toward  the  faith  of  Randall.  When  the  denominations 
shall  have  drawn  so  near  to  Christ  and  his  truth,  in  practice 
and  in  doctrine,  that  they  may  all  be  marshaled  together 
under  one  banner — which  may  not  be  till  that   banner  can 


Conference  Sermon.  99 

float  over  a  regenerated  world — then  which  of  the  sects, 
think  you,  will  have  had  to  move  the  least  distance  from  its 
original  doctrinal  position,  to  reach  that  common  camping 
ground  of  the  Church,  and  which  of  the  flags  of  the  denom- 
inational divisions  in  that  army  of  the  cross  will  have  its 
legends  most  nearly  resembling  those  on  the  grand  banner 
that  will  float  over  all  ? 

Again,  the  apostolic  spirit  of  our  fathers  determined  their 
attitude  respecting  the  ordinances  of  the  church.  They  held 
that  immersion  in  the  name  of  the  Trinity  is  the  solemn  act 
by  which  each  believer  declares  his  faith  in  a  buried  and 
risen  Saviour  and  his  purpose  to  lead  a  new  life.  But  they 
also  beUeved  that  this  faith  and  purpose — which  constitute 
one  a  Christian — may  exist  where  they  have  never  been  ex- 
pressed in  the  language  of  the  divinely  appointed  sign. 

Tney  concluded,  therefore,  that  just  as  no  church  has 
a  right  by  its  tradition  of  infant  sprinkhng  to  make  "  void  the 
law"  of  Christ  commanding  believers  to  be  baptized,  so  no 
sect  has  a  right,  by  its  inference  that  baptism  must  precede 
communion,  to  debar  from  commemorating  the  Saviour's 
death,  any  who  sincerely  love  and  purpose  to  serve  him. 
For,  against  this  inference,  they  observed  the  fact  that  the 
disciples  of  Jesus  sat  with  him  at  the  Supper  before  the  com- 
mand enjoining  baptism  in  the  name  of  the  Trinity  had 
been  given,  and  before  its  significance  could  be  understood. 
If  then,  there  was  no  divinely  established  precedence,  the 
appeal  of  our  fathers  would  be,  not  to  human  tradition, 
but  to  the  dictate  of  the  Christian  spirit.  What  polity  that 
spirit  in  them  suggested,  was  indicated  very  early. 

A  fraternal  letter,  written  by  the  modest  and  scholarly  Ting- 
ley,  as  "clerk  of  the  Baptist  Quarterly  Meeting  at  New  Dur- 
ham," to  another,  and  still  younger,  association  of  Baptists, 
says : 

"  Our  hearts  glow  and  expand  with  love  and  pity  towards 


lOO  Centennial  Record. 

the  world  of  mankind,  and  with  complacency  toward  all  of 
every  denomination  where  we  find  the  divine  image,  and  the 

unity  of  the  Spirit Our   hearts  and  doors  have  been, 

and  still  are,  open  to  the  messengers  of  the  meek  and  bless- 
ed Jesus,  of  whatever  name."* 

We  need  not  wonder  if  Randall  and  his  associates  came 
gradually,  almost  reluctantly,  to  the  position  in  reference  to 
communi<  in,  to  which  this  language  points,  and  which,  taken 
with  their  doctrines,  made  them,  as  the  author  of  their  His- 
tory remarks,  "  Free  Baptists."! 

They  were  accepting  as  a  rule  of  conduct,  not  onTy  an 
unpopular  truth,  but  one  which  appears  to  have  had  abso- 
lutely no  previous  advocates  in  America,  for  not  only  had 
the  practice  of  close  communion  been  intrenching  itself  for 
a  century  and  a  quarter  among  Baptists,  but  all  denomin- 
ations alike  endorsed  the  principle. 

It  is  not  inconsistent  with  our  proposition  that  the  fathers 
were  imitators  of  the  apostles,  that  the  young  denomination 
was  beset  with  its  full  proportion  of  isms,  excesses  and  ir- 
regularities. They  were  natural  incidents  of  the  time,  and 
of  the  degree  of  culture  in  which  the  churches  grew  up. 

Most  of  these  were  in  no  sense  outgrowths  of  the  spirit  of 
the  denomination,  but  attached  themselves  to  it,  like  a  cu- 
taneous disease  from  which  no  danger  remains  after  it  has 
been  once  experienced.  Others,  which  seem  to  have  had 
their  origin  within,  were  but  the  blunders  of  childhood, 
through  which  it  gains  prudence.  But  these  very  blunders 
had  in  them  the  flavor  of  the  apostolic  times. 


*History  of  F.  Baptists,  by  Rev.  I.  D.  Stewart,  vol.  I,  p.    88. 

tThis  term  has  long  been  the  name  of  one  integral  part  of  the  donomina- 
tion.  It  is  preferred  and  borne  to  some  extent,  in  other  sections,  not  mere- 
ly as  designating  our  views  in  reference  to  the  communion,  but  also  in  ref- 
erence to  the  nature  of  man  and  the  extent  of  the  atonement.  But  an 
obstacle  to  its  prevalence  exists  at  present  in  the  legal  name  of  the  mission- 
ary societies,  and  of  some  other  corporations. — Ibid,  p.  loi. 


Conference  Sermon.  loi 

They  aspired  to  say  with  Paul,  "  The  gospel  we  preach  is 
not  received  from  man."  Hence  their  antipathy  against 
learning  to  preach  from  any  book  aside  from  the  Bible. 
Yet  there  is  no  evidence  that  any  of  them  had  so  little  sense 
as  to  despise  education  or  glorify  ignorance.  They  used 
their  best  endeavors  to  secure  mental  training  and  Biblical 
knowledge.  But  they  had  great  fear  lest  education  should 
be  made  a  substitute  for  that  indispensable  qualification  of  a 
preacher,  the  enduement  of  the  Spirit.  The  first  protest 
against  an  abuse  very  rarely  halts  at  the  point  of  exact  rea- 
son. It  either  ends  in  a  compromise  or  passes  over  to  the 
extreme  of  rejecting,  not  only  the  abuse  of  a  thing,  but  the 
thing  itself — and  our  fathers  were  not  compromisers. 

Their  extreme  aversion  to  written  sermons  also  was  only 
an  exaggeration,  by  no  means  uncommon,  of  a  necessary 
carefulness  of  the  soul's  dependence  on  God  when  attempt- 
ing to  speak  for  him.  It  was  the  sentiment  that  roused  the 
covenanters  of  Scotland,  when  Jennie  Geddes  flung  her 
stool  at  the  head  of  the  parson  who  was  reading  his 
prayers  ; — a  sentiment  which  has  underlain  more  than  one 
reformation  in  the  church.  If  we  wonder  at  their  prefer- 
ence for  the  spontaneously  spoken,  over  the  carefully  written 
discourse,  we  may  remember  that  the  apostles  told  the  story 
of  the  cross  for  many  years  before  either  of  them,  so  far  as 
we  know,  put  pen  to  paper,  and  only  two  of  them  ever  en- 
gaged in  writing  down  what  they  preached.  Even  Paul, 
skillful  writer  as  he  was,  wrote  little  till  a  prison  limited  his 
opportunity  for  oral  preaching ;  and  the  gospel,  as  he  had 
learned  and  taught  it,  he  left  for  another  to  commit  to  writ- 
ing. 

Of  a  similar  origin,  and  carried  to  excess  for  the  same 
reason,  was  their  abhorrence  that  any  man,  whom  God  had 
called  and  commissioned  as  his  embassador,  should  hire  out 
to  men,  to  preach.     The  fault  was  rather  in  their  times 


I02  Centennial  Record. 

than  in  them.  In  the  good  time  coming  when  every  one 
that  is  taught  shall  communicate  unto  him  that  teacheth  in 
all  good  things,  then  no  longer  ^vill  the  worshiper  stipulate 
at  a  fixed  price  for  a  seat  in  church,  or  the  preacher  fear  to 
trust  the  Lord  and  his  people  without  a  contract  for  so  many 
dollars  per  year. 

It  has  often  been  called  the  great  mistake  of  our  fathers 
that  they  did  not  plant  churches  in  the  cities  instead  of  con- 
fining their  labors  to  the  country.  Randall's  consent  to  set- 
tle at  New  Durham  Ridge  has  been  regarded  as  the  mistake, 
not  only  of  a  life-time,  but  for  all  time.  We  may  indeed  im- 
agine what  might  have  been,  had  Newcastle  been  New  York 
and  New  Durham  Boston ;  but  what  hinders  that  we  should 
not  also  paint  glowing  pictures  of  what  might  have  resulted 
at  once  if  Jesus  had  chosen  Nicodemus  and  eleven  of  his  met- 
ropolitan brethren  for  helpers  and  made  Jerusalem  his  head- 
quarters, instead  of  gathering  a  society  of  peasants  and  fish- 
ennen  in  the  hill  country  where  he  was  brought  up  ? 

The  first  presentation  of  himself,  as  the  Messiah,  Jesus 
made  at  Jerusalem ;  but  the  conflict  which  was  inevitable 
in  the  city,  between  the  true  view  of  his  coming  kingdom 
and  the  view  of  it  that  was  there  held  with  such  pride  and 
bigtory,  led  him  to  retire  to  Galilee  and  there  train,  as  found- 
ers and  heralds  of  that  kingdom,  the  few  men  that  welcom- 
ed his  teachings  and  gladly  left  all  to  follow  him.  And 
when  at  length,  after  the  enduement  of  power,  they  went 
forth  to  preach  among  all  nations,  very  few  of  them  took  the 
cities,  and  none  of  them  the  great  centers  of  power  and  cul- 
ture that  were  shaping  the  civilization  of  the  time.  Not 
till  Paul,  a  man  who  had  enjoyed  from  his  youth  the  educat- 
ing influence  of  association  with  the  cultured  classes  in  two 
cities,  who  was  familiar  with  all  the  subtleties  of  the  Jewish 
Rabbis,  and  schooled  in  the  Grecian  literature  and  philos- 
phy — not  till  Paul  with  such  companions  as  Apollos,  Luke 


Conference  Sermon.  103 

and  Timothy — men  educated  in  similar  circumstances,  came 
upon  the  stage,  were  churches  gathered  in  the  capitals  of  the 
world. 

As  revivalists,  the  early  F.  Baptists  would  no  doubt  have 
produced  a  profound  sensation  in  the  cities.  But  the  suc- 
cessful planting  in  literary  centers,  at  that  day,  of  Baptist 
churches  holding  their  belief,  would  have  required  men  of 
special  education  for  that  work.  The  evangelist  needs  only 
to  be  steeped  in  the  Bible  and  imbued  with  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and,  taking  hold  of  convictions  and  of  great  moral  facts  that 
are  already  intrenched  in  the  minds  of  men,  he  moves 
whole  communities.  But  the  preacher  that  is  to  put  new 
thoughts  into  men's  minds  and  fresh  truths  into  their  creeds 
needs,  besides  all  this,  to  be  familiar  with  the  highest  thoughts 
and  with  all  the  arguments  of  the  men  whose  opinions  must 
be  controverted.  He  can  hardly  expect  to  win  acceptance  for 
his  doctrines,  however  true,  from  among  opposers  that  stand 
on  a  higher  plane  and  survey  a  wider  field  of  thought  than 
his  own. 

Besides,  the  successful  planting  of  churches  in  financial 
centers  requires  not  merely  permanent  pastorates  and  pastors 
of  trained  intellects  as  well  as  proved  discretion,  but  a  laity 
of  consecrated  wealth  and  financial  wisdom.  The  policy  of 
Randall  and  his  associates  required  to  be  perfected  by  ex- 
perience before  it  would  be  adapted  to  secure  this  essen- 
tial condition  of  successful  church  building.  The  financial 
theory  of  Randall  was  indeed  almost  ideal.  It  was  identical 
with  the  policy  that  the  F.  Baptist  benevolent  societies  are 
now  every  year  approximating.  From  the  very  beginning  all 
church-members  were  taught  the  duty  of  proportional  and 
regular  contributions.  The  Quarterly  Meeting  decided  that 
every  Christian  that  neglected  this  duty  should  be  deemed 
a  transgressor. 

Randall  also  held  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  people  to  return 


I04  Centennial  Record. 

to  the  preacher  a  fair  equivalent  for  the  time  given  in  serv- 
ing them.  But  this  duty  of  the  people  was  overshadowed 
by  the  truth,  made  so  prominent  in  regard  to  the  ministers, 
that  their  labors  should  be  wholly  for  Christ  and  his  king- 
dom, and  not  for  hire.  The  churches,  in  rebounding  from 
the  compulsion  of  supporting  the  ministry  by  legal  tax,  swung 
to  the  extreme  of  disregarding  all  obligation  for  their  sup- 
port. Randall  and  his  associates,  defending  with  the  zeal  of 
reformers  the  voluntary  system,  preferred  to  be  found,  like 
Paul,  laboring  night  and  day  with  their  hands  rather  than  be 
chargeable  to  any  man. 

Paul  asks  forgiveness  for  having  wronged  the  church  by 
thus  taking  upon  himself  the  burden  of  his  own  support. 
And  if  Randall  could  communicate  with  us  to-day,  he  too 
would  no  doubt  say,  "  Forgive  me  this  wrong."  This  policy 
made  growth  far  slower  than  otherwise  it  would  have  been. 
It  made  large  enterprises  impossible.  No  demand  being 
made  upon  the  churches  for  the  fruits  of  constant  and  sys- 
tematic beneficence,  Christians  did  not  feel  the  binding  force 
of  the  rule,  that  all  should  contribute  regularly  to  the 
"  church  stock ;"  and  the  rule  became  a  dead  letter.  And 
so  benevolent  contributions  at  length  ceased  altogether 
or  depended  on  spasmodic  impulses ;  and  people  forgot, 
or  never  learned,  how  to  serve  the  Lord  with  their  prop- 
erty. 

This  pohcy  re-acted  unfavorably  upon  ministers  and  peo- 
ple. Covetousness  found,  in  condemnation  of  hireling  shep- 
herds, a  convenient  cloak.  Churches  that  preferred  to  have 
preaching  cost  nothing,  learned  to  be  content  with  a  kind 
worth  no  more  than  it  cost.  There  were  indeed  among  lay- 
men many  examples  of  noble  Hberality  and  of  a  just  appre- 
ciation of  all  the  conditions  of  prosperity,  examples  that  will 
be  deservedly  held  in  everlasting  remembrance.  And  there 
were  ministers  that  with  Pauline  heroism,  and  consecration, 


Conference  Sermon.  105 

wrought  at  the  double  task  of  supporting  a  family  and  fitting 
themselves  by  diligent  study  to  be  edifying  preachers — 
sometimes  supplying  the  place  of  the  midnight  oil  with  pine 
knots  from  the  clearings.  Some  of  these  who  have  long 
been  veterans  of  the  cross  are  still  with  us,  living  proofs  that 
in  their  own  school  under  Him,  who  promoted  to  be  heralds 
of  his  cross,  men  called  from  the  nets  of  Galilee,  they  have 
been  no  unfaithful  students.  Their  memories  run  back  to 
the  time,  when  for  want  of  more  laborers  like  the  few  that 
were  their  teachers  and  models,  great  numbers  of  churches 
were  neither  growing  nor  healthy,  or  were  scattered  as  flocks: 
with  no  shepherd.  Then  came  again  into  prominence  a 
truth  on  which  Randall  had  acted  in  the  organization  of  all 
his  ministers'  conferences — the  truth  that  every  denomina- 
tion that  is  to  grow,  must  educate  a  ministry.  It  is  largely 
through  the  progressive  evangelistic  missionary  spirit,  fos- 
tered by  our  educational  institutions,  that  God  has  brought 
us  to  this  delightful  anniversary  and  is  preparing  this  people 
for  its  greater  work  in  the  future. 

High  up  on  the  shoulders  of  yonder  monarch  of  the  hills, 
the  tourist  finds  trees  of  only  a  few  feet  in  hight,  but  with 
thick  trunks  and  with  roots  thrust  far  out  among  the  granite 
ribs  of  the  mountain,  with  dead  limbs,  scorched  by  drouth 
or  riven  by  lightning,  rising  among  others  that  keep  their 
beauty  in  spite  of  summer's  blight  and  winter's  fi-ost.  Are 
these  growths  of  a  feeble  or  a  short-lived  nature,  that  they 
have  reached  no  higher  stature,  nor  spread  out  into  no 
broader  groves?  By  no  means.  It  is  just  because  their  na- 
ture is  that  of  the  stalwart  and  long-lived  evergreens  that 
they  grow  here  at  all,  where  but  for  them  nothing  perma- 
nent and  little  that  is  beautiful  would  relieve  the  barrenness. 
Let  a  seed  blow  from  this  granite  stronghold  and  take  root 
on  the  banks  of  rivers  in  our  Northern  valleys,  or  in  the 
Western  wilds,  or  on  the  plains  of  the  South,  and  it  carries 


io6  Centennial  Record. 

with  it  the  promise  and  the  potency  of  long-life  and  luxuri- 
ant growth,  though  that  growth  may  be  so  feeble  at  first  that 
an  infant's  foot  might  crush  it. 

So  when  the  circumstances  are  considered,  the  present 
status  of  the  F.  Baptist  denomination  is  no  proof  of  lack  of 
inherent  vitality  for  flourishing  growth.  Rather  does  its 
present  vigor,  its  wide  dispersion,  its  tenacity  of  beneficent 
life  under  the  rigorous  conditions  of  its  past  history  give 
promise  of  perennial  vigor  and  a  future  of  wide-spread  influ- 
ence. Its  comparative  smallness  is  readily  accounted  for. 
The  Congregationalist,  Presbyterian,  Episcopalian,  Dutch 
and  Lutheran  denominations,  already  organized  and  mature, 
were  transferred  to  this  country  at  the  very  beginning  of  its 
history,  to  grow  with  its  growth.  They  planted  the  colleges, 
established  the  journals,  and  enjoyed  the  aid  of  govern- 
ments. 

Calvinistic  Baptists,  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  to  en- 
rich the  soil  where  they  grew,  and  with  the  chance  in  most 
of  our  New  England  cities  to  grow  with  their  growth,  with 
no  barrier  at  Mason  &  Dixon's  line  to  their  spreading  into  the 
South  where  they  have  grown  most  rapidly,  with  a  powerful 
impulse  from  the  great  revivals  under  Whitefield,  reported 
at  the  end  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  a  membership  from 
ten  to  twenty  thousand  less  than  the  F.  Baptists  number  at 
this  their  hundredth  anniversary.  Methodists,  indeed,  have 
grown  far  more  rapidly  than  any  other  body  of  Protestant 
Christians.  They  sprang  up  suddenly  in  England,  led  oul 
from  the  Established  Church  by  the  Napoleon  of  reformers. 
Soon  there  were  transferred  to  this  country  not  merely 
their  skirmish  line  of  circuit  riders,  but  a  well-trained  army 
from  bishop  to  class-leaders,  equipped  before  its  coming 
with  a  literature  for  the  production  of  which  its  founders 
were  rarely  endowed.  One  of  them  was  diff"using  the  spirit  of 
Methodism  by  his  hymns,  while  the  other,  besides  his  evan- 


Conference  Sermon.  107 

gelistic  labor,  was  issuing  many  volumes  every  year.  He  had 
his  Printing  House,  his  Magazine,  and  his  Tract  Society.* 
The  F.  Baptists,  on  the  other  hand,  were  not  transplanted,  al- 
ready in  vigorous  growth.  They  were  not  pioneers  representing 
a  host.  For  them  there  was  no  army  in  reserve  intrenched  in 
organization  and  reinforced  by  the  press.  A  few  evan- 
gelists, with  no  aids,  no  appliances,  no  store-house  but  the 
Bible,  begin  to  scatter  the  seeds  of  truth,  previously  so  un- 
recognized that  they  were  called  in  derision,  "  New  Lights." 
Every  educational  institution,  every  library,  every  authorized 
pulpit  and  the  religious  training  of  ever}'  family  was  against 
them.  The  entire  literature  of  the  land  bristled  with  the 
"  five  points."  But  to  the  planting  of  those  faithful  men  in 
reliance  solely  upon  the  power  of  the  Spirit,  God  has  given 
a  gracious  increase.  Nor  is  the  harvest  found  alone  in  F. 
Baptist  churches;  it  is  garnered  in  every  enclosure.  And 
the  soil  waits,  with  a  preparation  such  as  it  never  had  before, 
for  similar  seed  in  many  a  New  England  field,  on  many  a 
plain  of  the  widening  West,  in  whole  States  of  the  South,  and 
in  the  opening  minds  of  millions  in  distant  lands. 

The  third  question  remains  and  must  be  dismissed  with 
the  briefest  answer :  How  shall  we  take  our  share  of  hard- 
ness as  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  Let  us  not  ignore  the 
fact  that  the  time  in  which  our  lives  will  be  giving  answer  to 
this  question  is  very  brief.  Generations  succeed  each  other 
in  the  years  of  God  with  far  greater  rapidity  than,  to  us,  do 
the  leaf-growths  of  successive  summers  on  these  hill-sides. 
Happy  shall  we  be  if  we  fall  as  they  fall,  most  beautiful  at  the 
last,  leaving  this  tree  of  the  church  on  which  we  have  grown, 
stronger  in  its  trunk,  with  more  widely  spread  roots  and 
branches,  and  with  its  buds  prepared  to  receive  the  full 
benefit  of  showers  and  sun  in  the  coming  spring-time. 


•Stevens'  History  of  Methodism,  vol.  II.,  book  vi.,  chap.  v. 


io8  Centennial  Record. 

But  however  we  fulfill  our  mission,  however  many,  blown 
away  by  winds  of  doctrine  or  loosened  by  the  blight  of 
selfishness,  may  fall  without  maturity  and  without  contribu- 
ting to  the  strength  of  any  branch,  yet  the  tree  will  abide  a 
benison  to  the  future,  for  it  is  rooted  in  God's  loving  pur- 
poses for  our  race.  The  marshaling  of  Christ's  militant  host  in 
several  voluntary  divisions  is  the  best  arrangement  for  advanc- 
ing his  kingdom  on  earth.  This  will  be  clearly  seen  by  any 
who  consider  the  degree  of  enthusiasm  and  success  in  the 
prosecution  of  both  home  and  foreign  evangelization  in  those 
Protestant  countries  where  normal  ecclesiastical  unity  prevails, 
as  compared  with  the  same  in  those  countries  where  Chris- 
tains  are  united  in  separate  denominations.  Roman  Cathol- 
icism is  quoted  as  being  strong  for  its  nominal  unity  ;  but  it 
is  divided  into  multitudes  of  rival  orders,  each  of  which  has 
its  own  distinctive  features,  its  theological  seminaries,  and 
its  peculiar  aims  and  methods  of  work.  Several  of  these 
orders  often  exist  in  the  same  field ;  and  this  separation  into 
sections — if  we  may  not  say  sects — adds  greatly  to  the  ag- 
gressive power  of  the  church.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  in 
our  own  country,  Christian  enterprises  receive  far  more  of 
the  energy  and  of  the  money  of  the  people,  because  of  the 
many  channels  through  which  these  flow.  The  results  also 
are  greater  than  would  otherwise  be  secured,  notwithstand- 
ing the  loss  from  occasional  friction  and  the  waste  of  power 
where  too  many  churches  struggle  together  for  existence ; 
for  these  are  only  incidental  abuses,  not  a  necessity,  and 
may  easily  be  remedied  in  the  future  by  some  form  of  na- 
tional evangelical  alliance  ;  by  an  arrangement  in  which,  as 
among  the  divisions  of  an  army  or  in  an  alliance  of  nations, 
the  movements  of  each  shall  be  regulated  with  due  regard  to 
the  position  and  duties  of  every  other.  The  fields  of  foreign 
missions  have  already  witnessed  this  comity  abroad,  but 
the   field  is   the  world,  and  the  world  will   yet  rejoice  in 


Conference  Sermon.  109 

the  universal  prevalence   of  this  considerate   co-operation. 

When  Napoleon  was  at  one  time  disposing  his  forces  for 
a  hazardous  engagement,  he  said  to  the  commander  of  a 
small  but  very  brave  regiment,  "  General,  take  your  com- 
mand to  the  dividing  of  the  roads  by  yonder  village,  and 
hold  it ;  you  will  be  cut  to  pieces,  but  you  will  save  the  army." 
"  Sire,"  replied  the  heroic  subordinate,  '•  we  shall  do  it." 
And  it  was  done.  However  the  fortunes  of  battle  wavered, 
whether  their  position  was  plowed  by  the  enemy's  artillery 
or  swept  by  the  fire  of  friends  as  well  as  foes,  the  brave  band 
held  their  ground,  and  when  the  day  was  done  the  remnant 
received  the  thanks  of  their  commander-in-chief  for  having 
done  their  duty  and  fulfilled  his  prophecy. 

Would  such  a  regiment  receive  complacently  from  their 
companions-in-arms  the  proposition  that,  since  their  num- 
ber has  always  been  small  and  their  service  often  hazardous, 
it  might  be  better  that  they  should  fling  away  their  banner 
— a  banner  that  bears  the  names  of  former  battle-fields  and 
victories — disperse,  and  be  incorporated  in  other  regiments  ? 
Would  they  not  reply.  Can  the  commander  desire  that  we 
abandon  the  service  he  has  assigned  to  us,  to  take  part  in  that 
he  has  given  to  you  ?  What  if  our  former  position  is  no 
longer  to  be  held  ?  What  if  the  whole  army  are  to  advance  ? 
He  has  not  only  not  dismissed  us,  but  already  designates  the 
posts  we  are  to  hold. 

It  has  been  said  to  F.  Baptists,  "  Anti-slavery  conflicts  are 
over.  The  whole  church  moves  forward,  from  the  fields  of 
controversy  about  free  will  and  free  grace,  toward  the  final 
rout  of  bigotry  and  sectarian  communion."  But  may  we  not 
reply  without  boasting  :  Who  has  better  right  than  we  to  be 
in  at  the  death?  The  end  of  the  anti-slavery  conflict  has 
but  led  us  to  another  field,  promising  a  more  glorious  victo- 
ry over  the  ignorance  and  depravity  that  slavery  has  foster- 
ed.    If  all  evangelical  bodies  are  moving  onward  to  occupy 


no  Centennial  Record. 

the  ground  where  we  have  done  picket  duty ;  if  the  marshal- 
ed hosts  of  Protestantism,  ceasing  to  turn  weapons  upon 
each  other,  are  faUing  into  line  for  a  grand  movement 
against  heathenism  abroad,  against  skepticism  at  home, 
against  the  causes  of  moral  defilement  everywhere,  then  shall 
not  we  too  be  found  pressing  to  the  front,  and  shall  not  a 
share  in  the  final  triumph  with  Jesus  be  ours?  We  have  in 
progress  enterprises  adapted  to  develop  and  employ  fully  the 
energies  of  a  vigorous,  progressive  body  of  Christians.  These 
enterprises  demand  a  ministry  constantly  increasing  in  num- 
bers, intelligent,  able  by  discipline  and  experience  to  sympa- 
thize with  men  in  all  their  varied  conditions,  aiming 
at  the  highest  standard  of  consecration,  and  some  of 
them — by  no  means  all — trained  to  follow  science  and 
speculation  in  their  most  adventurous  flights.  They  c^ll 
for  men  and  women  to  add  to  our  literature,  to  make  it 
not  only  a  medium  of  a  theology  abreast  of  the  march  of 
thought  in  this  century,  but  a  power  rallying  and  unifying, 
as  well  as  enlightening,  our  people. 

To-day  is  Pisgah  to  some  who  after  long  journeying  and 
toiling  to  lead  the  people,  often  in  vv^ays  more  devious  than 
they  wished,  look  from  this  mount  of  observation  into  a  fu- 
ture of  promise  which  they  expect  not  to  enter,  but  which 
shall  be  ours  if  only  the  faith  of  Caleb  and  Joshua  prevail. 
They  exhort  us  to-day :  "  O  faithful  men  and  women,  carry 
forward  the  work  which  we  could  only  begin.  Lift  up  the 
banner  of  the  cross  in  the  centers  of  thought  and  enterprise 
and  on  the  outposts  of  our  civilization,  and  help  to  win  for 
Immanuel  the  regions  over  which  the  scepter  of  enterprise 
shall  wave  in  the  century  to  come. 

"Use  all  the  means  that  God's  providence  requires  to  fill 
the  ranks  of  Christian  service  with  faithful  and  well-equip- 
ped men  and  women.  To  this  end  cherish  all  your  institu- 
tions  of  learning.     Consecrate  to  them  a  portion  of  your 


Conference  Sermon  iii 

possessions.  Give  them  your  prayers,  hearty  and  unceasing. 
Consecrate  your  children  to  holy  service  when  first  they 
come  to  their  cradles.  Teach  them  by  your  lives  and  pre- 
cepts the  nobility  of  an  unselfish  life,  that  seeks  a  higher 
than  earthly  rewards. 

"  Pray  the  *  Lord  of  the  harvest  that  he  will  send  forth  la- 
borers into  his  harvest.'  Regard  this  as  a  request  in  which 
God  takes  especial  interest,  on  the  right  presentation  of 
which  he  hangs  results.  See  to  it  that  your  plans  of  busi- 
ness, your  motives,  and  your  methods  of  education  do  not 
tend  to  defeat  this  request." 

That  we  may  be  faithful  to  the  trusts  thus  commended  to 
us,  let  us  emulate  the  spirit  of  the  fathers. 

Enterprises  undertaken  because  the  love  of  Christ  con- 
strains, because  men  morally  dead  need  the  gospel  as  the 
power  of  God  for  their  awakening,  these  embody  that 
spirit,  the  spirit  that  made  each  pioneer  F.  Baptist  a  self- 
supporting  home  missionary. 

Let  us  include  the  future  in  our  faith  and  our  plans. 
Providence  now  places  before  us  opportunities,  and  calls  on 
us  for  achievements  too  great  as  it  may  seem,  for  our  pres- 
ent strength.  But  this  fact  is  God's  guarantee  that  greater 
strength  is  attainable. 

Let  it  be  understood  we  are  not  summoned  to  work  for  a 
denomination  as  an  end.  A  denomination,  like  a  man,  is 
living  to  best  purpose  when  the  conditions  of  health  are 
spontaneously  met,  while  itself,  its  health,  its  magnitude,  its 
renown,  are  forgotten  in  enthusiasm  for  the  work  for  which 
God  has  inspired  it. 

To  be  aggressive  for  righteousness,  freedom  and  progress, 
to  be  studying,  not  how  to  maintain  existence,  but  how  to  do 
the  greatest,  noblest  work,  is  to  be  fit  to  live.  Let  us  send 
across  the  hills  and  lakes  a  responsive  amen  to  that  secretary 
who  wTites,  "  Our  motto  is  Iowa  for  Jesus."     Amen  to  ev- 


112  Centennial  Record. 

ery  worker  who  says  our  church,  our  school,  our  denomina- 
tion only  for  Him,  and  ourselves  its  "  servants  for  Jesus' 
sake." 

When  Sherman  massed  his  forces  for  that  grand  march 
from  Atlanta  to  the  sea,  he  made  no  provision  for  a  line  of 
retreat,  nor  for  a  base  of  supplies.  The  army  were  to  forage 
for  their  subsistence,  and  live  on  what  the  country  supplied. 
But  did  any  loyal  soldier  join  that  band,  or  seek  to  be  a  lead- 
er in  it  for  the  sake  of  what  he  might  gather  on  the  march? 
Only  bummers  did  that.  We  are  under  marching  orders 
to  aid  in  putting  down  whatever  exalts  itself  in  rebellion 
against  Christ,  to  overthrow  every  doctrine,  practice  and  in- 
stitution that  is  a  foe  to  righteousness  and  human  welfare. 
If  any  have  enlisted  in  this  division  of  the  army  of  our  Lord, 
only  that  they  may  find  easy  places  in  which  to  care  for 
themselves  first  and  always — they  will  forage.  But  those 
that  have  forgotten  self  in  fidelity  to  Christ  and  man,  while 
doing  the  duty  nearest  their  hand,  the  work  that  most  needs 
them,  though  it  has  the  least  of  present  rewards — for  them 
there  is  coming  by  and  by  a  grand  day  of  triumph. 

Brethren,  let  us  gird  on  our  armor,  the  whole  armor  of 
God.  The  campaign  is  long.  The  goal  is  distant.  Our 
term  of  service  will  be  over  long  before  the  end  is  reached. 
But  rebellion  will  cease.  The  cross  will  triumph.  And 
when  the  sea  is  gained,  the  sea  of  God's  glory,  which  will 
surround  a  regenerated  world,  every  one  that  has  been  faith- 
ful over  a  few  things  will  share  in  the  joy  of  his  Lord  over 
humanity  ransomed  crowning  its  Redeemer  Lord  of  all. 


-S^ircnred  V  JC.Bo"' 


MISSlONAKir  TO   OKESSA 
SornJanymiZ-SaiUd.  Sep''  J835-Relarned  Jiff  JSX 


THE  FOREIGN  MISSION. 


"  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations."  Such  is  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  commission  given  by  our  Saviour.  In  the 
brief  space  allotted,  we  will  seek  to  rehearse  the  story  of  how 
the  FreewiU  Baptists  of  America  have  sought  to  obey  this 

commission. 

The  primitive  church  was  pre-eminently  missionary,     ihe 
Catholic  church  of  the  middle  ages  sought  in  its  ou-n  way  to 
imitate  its  example.     It  is  only  within  the  last  century  that 
the  modem   Protestant   missionary   enterprise  received   the 
earnest  attention  of  Christian  England  and  America.     Dur- 
ing the  last  decade  of  the  last  century,  several  of  the  leadmg 
missionary  societies  of  England  were  formed.     The  American 
Board,  the  great  parent  of  American  missionary   societies, 
came  into  existence  in  1810.     As  the  church  rose  to  a  real- 
ization of  its   grand   opportunity,    God    in   his   providence 
opened  the  fields  for  it  to  enter.     In  the  fitting  tune,  India 
and  China— t>vo  great  and   populous  heathen   countries  of 
Asia,  and  which  would  have  been  otherwise  closed— came  un- 
der the  government  or  influence  of  England,  and,  notwith- 
standing all  her  faults,  her  strong  arm  has  ever  been  exerted 
for  the  protection  of  the  missionary  of  the  Cross.      The  hand 
of  God  can  be  traced  in  the  modem  missionaiy  enterprise, 
not  only  as  a  whole,  but  also  in  its  details. 

ORGANIZATION   OF  THE   SOCIETY. 

Early  in  the  present  century  the  General  Baptists  of  Eng- 
land, stirred  by  the  account  which  Dr.  Buchanan,  the  friend  of 


114  Centennial  Record. 

India,  gave  of  the  horrors  which  he  witnessed  at  the  carnival 
of  Juggernaut,  at  Pooree,  organized  a  missionary  society  and 
sent  missionaries  to  Orissa,  the  portion  of  India  in  which  Poo- 
ree is  located.  Among  the  early  missionaries  sent  thither  were 
Rev.  Messrs.  James  Peggs  and  Amos  Sutton.  Tlirough  the 
mstnunentality  of  these  men,  under  God,  and  as  the  result 
of  correspondence  between  them  and  Elder  John  Buzzell,  an 
acknowledged  Freewill  Baptist  leader  of  those  days,  the  Free- 
will Baptists  of  America  became  awakened  to  the  condition 
of  the  heathen,  and  determined  to  aid  in  the  work  of  giving 
them  light  and  life.  "  The  Morning  Star,"  in  which  the  let- 
ters of  the  English  missionaries  were  published,  was  an  im- 
portant agency  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  beneficent 
result. 

The  year  1833  is  usually  designated  as  the  one  in  which 
the  Freewill  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society  had  its  origin. 
The  preliminary  organization,  however,  took  place  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1832.  It  was  effected  in  the  old  meeting-house  at 
North  Parsonsfield,  Me.,  which  stood  near  the  spot  where 
Eld.  Buzzell's  grave  now  is.  This  was  during  the  first  term 
of  Parsonsfield  Academy,  and  Hosea  Quinby  was,  with  Eld. 
Buzzell,  among  the  leading  actors.  The  act  of  incorporation 
was  obtained  from  the  Legislature  of  Maine  in  January,  1833, 
it  being  approved  by  Gov.  Samuel  E.  Smith  on  the  29th  day 
of  that  month.  The  first  meeting  under-  this  act  was  held  at 
North  Parsonsfield  on  the  ^th  day  of  March,  1833.  It  was 
adjourned  to  March  9th,  when  a  constitution  and  by-laws 
were  adopted.  These  have  been  since  revised,  and  the  act 
of  incorporation  has  been  amended.  Another  meeting  was 
held  on  the  20th  of  April  and  the  list  of  officers  was  com- 
pleted. John  Buzzell  was  chosen  President  and  he  continued 
m  office  until  1846. 

During  the  year  1833,  Rev.  Amos  Sutton,  one  of  the  mis- 
sionaries in  Orissa,  whose  name  has  been  mentioned,  visited 


The   Foreign  ][Iission.  115 

America.  He  \vished  to  regain  his  health,  which  had  be- 
come impaired,  and  to  advance  the  cause  of  missions.  He 
traveled  extensively  and  lectured  among  Freewill  Baptists 
and  other  denominations.  At  the  New  Hampshire  Yearly 
Meeting  in  1833,  held  at  Gilford,  he  eloquently  pleaded  the 
cause  of  heathen  India.  A  collection  of  $100  was  taken, 
which  was  considered  a  marvel  for  those  days.  For  a  period, 
1 834-1 835,  Mr.  Sutton  acted  as  Corresponding  Secretary  of 
the  Society,  of  which  during  the  first  three  years  of  its  exist- 
ence the  receipts  were,  in  the  aggregate,  $2660.  With  this 
sum  in  its  treasury,  it  decided  to  send  four  missionaries  to 
India.     Was  not  this  a  marked  instance  of  faith  ? 

THE   FIRST   MISSIONARIES. 

The  first  accepted  missionary  was  ordained  at  the  New 
Hampshire  Yearly  Meeting,  held  at  Lisbon  in  June,  1835,  ^^ 
the  presence  of  three  thousand  people.  Dr.  Cox,  of  Eng- 
land, preached  the  sermon  and  Dr.  Sutton  and  Rev.  David 
Marks  were  among  those  who  took  part  in  the  exercises. 
On  the  2  2d  of  September,  1835,  two  Freewill  Baptist  minis- 
ters and  their  wives  were  among  a  company  of  twenty  mis- 
sionaries who  sailed  from  Boston  in  the  ship  "  Louvtc."  The 
event  was  deeply  momentous  and  produced  a  profound  im- 
pression. The  parting  was  sad  and  sorrowful,  and  yet  joy- 
ous and  hopeful.  As  is  well  known,  the  Freewill  Baptist  mis- 
sionaries were  Eli  Noyes,  of  Jefferson,  Me.,  with  his  wife,  who 
was  Clementine  Pierce,  of  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  and  Jeremiah 
Phillips,  of  Plainfield,  N.  Y.,  with  his  wife,  who  was  Mrs.  Ma- 
ry E.  Bedee,  the  widow  of  the  then  late  Samuel  Bedee,  editor 
of  "  The  Morning  Star."  The  sudden  engagement  and  mar- 
riage of  this  last-named  couple  partook  of  the  nature  of  ro- 
mance. The  missionaries  were  young,  Noyes  and  Phillips 
were  respectively  in  their  2  2d  and  24th  years.  Though  their 
period  of  education  had  been  cut  short,  they  had  ability  and 


Ii6  Centennial  Record. 

scholarly  aspirations.  They  were  devout,  earnest  and  coura- 
geous. The  modern  missionary  enterprise  was  in  1835 
comparatively  new.  The  strength  of  the  rope  sustain- 
ing one  descending  into  the  dark  pit  of  heathenism,  and  the 
endurance  of  the  holder,  had  not  been  fully  tested.  The  In- 
dia of  that  day  was  practically  three  or  four  times  more  dis- 
tant than  the  India  of  this  day.  It  was  also  a  much  darker 
India.  The  prospect  of  its  Christianization  seemed  far  more 
uncertain.  In  spite  of  all  obstacles  these  brave  souls  went 
unhesitatingly  forward. 

Our  missionaries  arrived  in  Calcutta  on  the  5th  of  February, 
1836.  One  hundred  and  thirty-six  days  were  consumed  in 
the  passage,  which  was  marked  by  no  special  incidents. 
Some  months  were  spent  by  them  in  acquiring  the  language, 
during  most  of  which  time  they  sojourned  at  Cuttack,  the 
leading  station  of  the  General  Baptists.  In  due  time  they  de- 
cided to  establish  an  independent  station  at  Sumbhulpore,  a 
large  and  populous  town  in  the  hill  district  of  Orissa,  some 
two  hundred  miles  from  the  coast.  It  is  on  the  river  Mahan- 
ady,  and  on  the  post-road  from  Calcutta  to  Bombay. 
Thither  our  missionaries  went  in  January,  1837,  and  com- 
menced their  work  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  But  after 
a  single  year  of  sickness,  sadness  and  death,  the  place  was 
abandoned.  All  the  missionaries  were  sick ;  a  child  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Noyes,  a  child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Phillips,  and  Mrs. 
Phillips  herself  died.  This  saintly  woman  left  the  rich  be- 
quest of  a  short  but  consecrated  life.  The  effort  made  at  Sum- 
bhulpore was  not  altogether  a  failure.  The  children  gathered 
there  formed  a  nucleus  of  a  future  mission  school,  and 
among  them  was  he,  who  is  the  oldest  living  and,  perhaps, 
the  most  trusted  native  preacher,  Silas  Curtis.  From  this  time 
there  was  consigned  to  our  missionaries  as  their  special  field 
of  labor,  Balasore,  the  northern  district  of  Orissa,  and  Midna- 
pore,  a  district  of  Bengal. 


The  Foreign    Mission.  117 


THE   FIELD   IN   INDIA. 

India  is  a  broad  land.  It  embraces  nearly  half  as  much 
territory  as  is  contained  in  these  United  States  of  America. 
It  has  high  mountains,  broad  plains  and  great  rivers.  It  is 
inhabited  by  not  less  than  two  hundred  millions  of  people. 
Some  one  referring  to  this  land,  has  said  :  "  It  is  one  of  the 
brightest  the  sun  ever  shone  upon.  .  .  .  One  glimpse  from 
Everest  to  Cormorin,  and  the  heart  cries  out :  '  If  on  earth 
there  is  Paradise,  it  is  this.'  But  alas,  it  is  Paradise  lost !  For 
the  one,  true,  triune  God  is  forgotten  there."  The  portion 
allotted  as  the  Freewill  Baptist  missionary  field  is  about  the  size 
of  the  state  of  Massachusetts,  and  has  a  population  of  some 
three  and  a  half  millions,  or  about  that  of  all  New  England. 
It  lies  upon  the  western  shore  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal  and  south- 
west of  Calcutta,  its  mission  stations  being  from  seventy-five 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  it.  The  coast  is  level  and 
well-watered.  Hills  and  mountains  rise  toward  the  interior. 
Its  fruits  and  productions  are  those  usual  for  tropical  regions, 
the  banana  being,  perhaps,  the  most  delicious  fruit  and  rice 
the  most  abundant  product  and  staple  article  of  food.  Its 
rivers  abound  \vith  fish  suitable  for  food,  as  well  as  with  ser- 
pents and  crocodiles.  Its  domestic  animals  resemble  those 
found  among  us,  though  inferior.  Its  jungles  contain  tigers, 
leopards,  bears  and  buffaloes.  Reptiles  are  numerous  and  poi- 
sonous and  insects  are  common.  The  seasons  are  hot,  wet 
and  cold,  and  each  subserves  its  purposes.  The  means  of  con- 
veyance are  slow  and  tiresome.  The  houses  are  built  of  brick 
and  mud,  most  of  which  have  roofs  thatched  with  straw.  The 
people  are  largely  aboriginees  and  conquerors.  Of  the  for- 
mer, the  Santals  are  a  numerous  and  representative  class.  The 
latter  are  the  Hindoos  proper,  who  are  divided  into  castes  which 
determine  station  in  life  and  employment,  and  which  are  rigidly 
maintained.    They  are  supposed  to  have  descended  from  the 


ii8  Centennial  Record. 

ancient  Aryans  who  conquered  India  some  1400  years  B.  C. 
The  Mohammedans,  who  conquered  India  at  a  later  peri- 
od and  made  converts  to  their  faith,  constitute  anotlier  ele- 
ment. The  dress  of  the  people  is  oriental.  The  languages 
spoken  are  many,  but  in  our  field  they  are  largely  Oriya,  Ben- 
gali and  Santal.  The  divinities  of  India  are  numbered  by 
hundreds  of  millions.  There  is  consequently  much  igno- 
rance, superstition  and  false  philosophy,  including  Brahmin- 
ism,  Buddhism,  and  the  like.  Penances  of  the  most  severe 
kind,  embracing  long  pilgrimages,  hook  swinging,  and  other 
excruciating  tortures  abound,  though  less  than  formerly. 
The  country  has,  during  long  ages,  been  sinking  in  degrada- 
tion, and  every  form  of  vice  exists.  The  people,  like  the  Ori- 
entals, generally  hold  their  traditions,  customs  and  rehgions 
with  a  strong  tenacity.  The  task  of  giving  that  dark  and 
dead  land  the  light  and  life  of  the  gospel,  and  thus  regener- 
ate it  seemed,  humanly,  herculean.  But  the  Freewill  Baptist 
Foreign  Mission  Society,  relying  upon  the  declaration  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  "  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  in 
earth,"  and  obeying  the  command,  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and 
teach  all  nations,"  has  undertaken  a  share  in  the  glorious  and 
blessed  work.  The  promise,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway," 
has  attended  the  workers,  and  it  will  attend  them  until  the 
work  is  consummated. 

Early  in  1838,  our  missionaries  occupied  Balasore  as  a 
station.  It  had  been  previously  occupied  by  the  General 
Baptists,  who  now  surrendered  it  to  them.  The  town,  the 
capital  of  the  district  of  the  same  name,  and  located  on  the 
great  pilgrim  road  to  Pooree,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  Calcutta,  has  some  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants. 
It  is  only  some  seven  or  eight  miles  from  the  sea,  and,  for 
that  country,  its  climate  is  salubrious.  The  foundations  of 
permanent  missionary  work  were  laid,  and  from  that  begin- 
ning there  has  been  growth.     To  this  first  permanent  station 


The  Foreign   Mission.  119 

five  other  stations  have  been  added,  viz  :  Jellasore,  in  1 840 ; 
Midnapore,  temporarily  in  1845  and  permanently  in  1862  ;  San- 
tipore,  in  1865  ;  Bhimpore,  in  1873,  and  Dantoon,  in  1877. 
There  are  also  several  Christian  villages,  of  which  Metrepore, 
near  Balasore,  is  perhaps  the  most  prominent.  A  mission 
church  was  early  organized  at  Balasore.  To  this  seven  other 
churches  have  been  added,  there  being  one  at  each  station  and 
two  at  places  which  are  not  stations.  These  tvvo  churches  take 
the  names  of  the  Palasbani  and  the  Babaigadia,  and  they 
are  located  within  the  district  of  Midnapore.  They  and  the 
church  at  Dantoon  have  been  organized  during  the  past  year. 
The  number  of  communicants  in  all  these  churches  is  five 
hundred  and  twenty-seven.  The  churches  are  embraced  in 
what  are  designated  as  the  Balasore  and  the  Midnapore 
Quarterly  Meetings,  which  constitute  the  Bengal  and  Orissa 
Yearly  Meeting. 

EARLY   CHANGES. 

There  were  early  changes  among  the  workers.  In  1839, 
Miss  Mary  Anne  Grimsditch,  foster  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Mack,  Scotch  missionaries  at  Serampore,  and  bom  in  India, 
became  the  second  Mrs.  Phillips.  She  was  beautiful,  accom- 
phshed,  devout  and  efficient.  Early  in  1S40,  she  went  with 
her  husband  to  establish  the  station  at  Jellasore,  a  large  bazar 
surrounded  \vith  densely  populated  \dllages  and  twenty-eight 
miles  northeast  of  Balasore,  and  in  the  district  of  that  name. 
On  the  1 7th  of  January  that  year,  she  gave  birth  to  twin  sons, 
who  were  named  James  and  John.  Upon  the  former,  seven 
months  later,  Aug.  16,  and  as  she  plunged  into  the  Jordan  of 
death,  she  pronounced  the  blessing  which  seems  prophetic, 
"God  bless  my  darling  child,"  and  she  could  do  no  more, 
for  she  had  passed  to  the  other  side.  She  was  buried  in 
Midnapore.  In  1 841,  as  the  result  of  impaired  health,  Mr. 
and    Mrs.   Noyes  were   compelled    to  return   to   America. 


I20  Centennial  Record. 

Here  Dr.  Noyes  did  efficient  work  for  the  mission  and  the 
Master.  He  died  in  1854.  In  scholarly  attainments  he 
ranked  among  the  first  Free  Baptist  ministers  of  his  times. 

In  1840  the  mission  received  its  first  reinforcement  from 
America  in  the  persons  of  Rev.  O.  R.  Bacheler  and  wife  and 
Miss  Hannah  C.  Cumings.  The  last  named  was  a  member 
of  the  Free  Baptist  church  in  Lowell,  and  went  as  a  teacher, 
but  she  became  the  third  Mrs.  Phillips.  She  was  married 
in  1 84 1.  During  all  the  years  since  that  time  her  name 
and  labors  have  been  closely  identified  with  those  of  her 
husband  and  in  all  his  struggles.  She  has  rendered  her- 
self in  many  ways  useful  to  the  mission  and  the  cause  of 
God. 

Dr.  Bacheler  was  a  native  of  HoUiston,  Mass.,  and  was, 
when  appointed  as  a  missionary,  a  member  of  one  of  the 
Free  Baptist  churches  in  Boston.  He  was  at  that  time  only 
22  years  of  age.  Devout,  scholarly  and  ingenious,  the  Lord 
made  him  for  a  missionary.  He  was  then,  or  he  has  be- 
come, an  adept  in  several  mechanical  trades.  But  the  most 
conspicuous  among  his  attainments  was  a  knowledge  of 
medicine  and  surgery,  and  the  art  of  printing.  All  these 
things,  together  with  his  great  enthusiasm,  have  proved  to 
be  pre-eminently  serviceable  in  his  work. 

In  1844  the  mission  was  reinforced  by  Rev,  J.  C.  Dow 
and  wife,  of  Maine.  In  the  following  year  they  were  sta- 
tioned at  Midnapore,  a  city  of  nearly  seventy  thousand  inhab- 
itants, and  the  capital  of  the  district  of  the  same  name.  It 
had  been  occupied  by  the  General  Baptists,  by  whom  it 
was  abandoned.  After  laboring  some  three  years  under 
disadvantageous  circumstances,  Mr.  Dow's  health  compelled 
him  to  return  to  America  in  1848.  It  was  permanently  oc- 
cupied by  Dr.  Bacheler  in  1862.  It  is  seventy  miles  from 
Calcutta,  and  is  now  regarded  as  the  most  important  station 
in  the  mission. 


The   Foreign   Mission.  121 


THE   WORK    FOR    THE    HEATHEN. 

The  work  of  our  missionaries  in  India  has  been,  first  and 
foremost,  that  of  preaching  the  glorious  gospel.  At  each 
•  station  there  has  been  what  is  designated  chapel  preaching 
on  Sunday.  A  second  kind  of  preaching  consists  in  the 
promulgation  of  the  gospel  message  in  the  bazars,  the  mar- 
kets, whither  the  people  of  the  city  and  country  resort.  By 
means  of  it,  Christian  truth  is  disseminated  far  and  widely, 
many,  like  the  Ethiopian  of  old,  returning  to  their  friends 
and  telling  the  good  news.  The  third  kind  of  preaching  is 
"  itinerating."  By  means  of  it  those  dwelling  in  remote  re- 
gions are  reached.  It  is  usually  confined  to  the  cold  sea- 
son, beginning  in  November  and  closing  with  February.  In 
this  work  the  missionary  pitches  his  tent  wherever  night 
overtakes  him.  In  each  kind  of  preaching,  native  preachers, 
in  the  persons  of  Rama  and  Mahes,  both  now  dead,  and  Silas 
Curtis  and  others,  have  been  especially  useful,  and  even 
quite  indispensable.  Through  the  itineracy  our  missionaries 
early  discovered  and  became  interested  in  the  Santals,  a  hill 
tribe,  who  have  been  mentioned  as  aborigines.  To  them 
much  labor  has  been  devoted,  and  two  of  the  stations,  Santi- 
pore  and  Bhimpore,  have  been  established  more  especially 
for  their  benefit.  Though  deeply  sunken  in  degradation 
they  evince  a  comparative  readiness  to  receive  the  Word  of 
life.  Rev.  Jeremiah  Phillips  was  pre-eminently  an  apostle 
to  this  people.  Among  other  things,  he  reduced  their  spok- 
en language  to  a  written  one,  devoting  much  time  and 
strength  to  the  work  ;  gave  them  portions  of  the  Word  of 
God  and  books  for  elementary  instruction.  For  the  service 
rendered  in  their  behalf  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  Brit- 
ish government,  when  he  left  India  to  return  no  more. 
This  was  a  rare  compliment  and  well  deserved.  More, 
doubtless,  would  have  been  done  for  this  people  had  not  two 


122  Centennial  Record. 

of  the  young  and  promising  converts  from  among  them, 
Elias  Hutchins  and  Daniel  P.  Cilley,  died  at  an  early  day, 
and  when  they  were  just  entering  upon  careers  of  useful- 
ness. 

Our  missionaries  have  taught  as  well  as  preached.  The 
school,  bearing  names  appropriate  to  the  special  work 
which  it  was  designed  to  accomplish,  such  as  boarding,  day 
or  bazar,  training,  orphanage,  Santal  and  ragged,  together 
with  the  Sunday-school,  has  been  very  generally  em- 
ployed. What  was  known  as  the  school  for  the  Khond  chil- 
dren, victims  rescued  from  human  sacrifice  by  the  British 
government,  was  sustained  at  Balasore  from  1848  to  i860, 
and  its  work  constitutes  an  interesting  phase  of  the  mis- 
sion. The  girls'  orphanage,  sustained  at  Jellasore  since 
1861,  is  a  marked  feature  of  the  mission;  and  another 
is  the  many  Santal  schools  scattered  through  the  jungles, 
with  native  teachers  trained  by  our  missionaries.  Until  a 
comparatively  recent  period,  the  labors  of  our  mission- 
aries in  India,  as  well  as  those  of  others,  among  women  were 
confined  very  largely,  if  not  wholly,  to  those  of  the  lower 
castes,  or  to  those  of  no  caste.  Less  than  twenty  years  ago 
the  zenanas,  the  abodes  of  eighty  millions  of  high-caste 
women  in  the  province  of  Bengal  alone,  were  first  penetrat- 
ed by  a  lady  missionary  in  Calcutta.  In  1865  the  same 
work  was  undertaken  by  two  of  our  own  lady  missionaries  in 
Midnapore.  From  this  beginning  the  work  of  zenana  teach- 
ing has  been  carried  forward  at  INIidnapore  and  Balasore, 
largely  by  the  aid  of  native  assistants,  and  it  constitutes  one 
of  the  most  important  elements  in  our  missionary  operations. 
This  branch  of  service,  let  it  be  remembered,  belongs  ex- 
clusively to  woman,  for  she  alone  can  enter  the  zenana,  from 
which  man  is  debarred.  What  are  distinctively  known  as 
the  ragged  schools,  designed  for  the  poor,  have  been  insti- 
tuted only  during  the  last  two  years,  and  they  are  full  of 


The   Foreign   Alission.  123 

promise.  The  Bible  School,  with  which  the  work  of  teach- 
ing is  now  crowned,  was  opened  in  Midnapore  in  May,  1879, 
with  twenty-one  students.  It  has  been  a  long-felt  necessity, 
and  it  will  do  much  for  the  future  of  the  mission. 

During  the  early  years  of  Dr.  Bacheler's  connection  with 
the  mission,  he  established  at  Balasore  the  Dispensary.  The 
gratuitous  bestowal  of  medicine  and  medical  advice  has 
brought  relief  to  many  a  sufferer,  and  prepared  the  way  for 
his  sin-sick  soul  to  receive  gospel  truth.  Dr.  Bacheler  also 
taught  a  medical  class  composed  of  native  young  men,  and 
published  a  small  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  natives,  known 
as  the  "  Medical  Guide."  In  Dr.  Bacheler's  absence  in 
this  country  the  Dispensary  was  continued  by  some  of  the 
students  whom  he  had  taught.  Some  of  these  students  also 
were  useful  in  the  asylum  at  Jellasore,  which  Mr.  Phillips 
founded  for  the  benefit  of  sick  and  suffering  pilgrims.  Dur- 
ing some  twenty  years  about  two  thousand  patients  annually, 
on  an  average,  received  aid  from  the  Dispensary  at  Balasore. 
In  1862,  it  was  removed  to  Midnapore,  where  it  is  still 
continued,  and  is  doing  its  blessed  work,  widening  in  ex- 
tent and  influence.  In  the  same  year,  which  was  that  of 
Dr.  Bacheler's  return  to  India,  after  an  absence  in  America, 
a  small  press  was  established  at  Midnapore.  It  has  since 
been  enlarged.  This  new  and  highly  useful  department  of 
work  for  the  benefit  of  India  continues  to  be  carried  for- 
ward and  has  been  successful.  By  means  of  it  much  truth 
has  been  disseminated. 

THE   FOREIGN  WORKERS. 

While  the  work  goes  on,  the  workers  change.  In  August, 
1844,  the  mission  was  again  visited  by  death.  Mrs.  C.  E. 
Bacheler,  a  woman  of  sweet  piety  and  earnest  devotion  to 
the  cause,  was  its  victim.  She  left  two  children.  Dr.  Bach- 
eler was  subsequently  married  to  Miss  Sarah  P.  Merrill,  of 


124  Ccnlcnni'al  Record. 

Stratham,  N.  H.,  who  joined  the  mission  in  1846,  and  who 
has  during  all  the  years  since  that  time  been  a  devoted  mis- 
sionary as  well  as  wife  and  mother.  Rev.  Ruel  Cooley  and 
wife,  of  western  New  York,  joined  the  mission  in  1850, 
they  having  sailed  during  the  previous  year.  They  were 
stationed  at  first  at  Jellasore  and   afterwards  at   Balasore. 

They  gave  to  the  cause  twelve  years  of  devoted  labor,  and 
returned  to  this  country  in  1861.  Since  that  tmie  they  have 
served  some  of  the  churches  at  the  West.  In  October, 
1850,  Miss  Lavina  Crawford,  of  Villanovia,  N.  Y.,  sailed  for 
India.  For  eight  years  she,  with  Mrs.  Cooley  and  others, 
had  charge  of  the  school  composed  of  the  Khond  children 
at  Balasore.  She  has  spent  some  two  years  in  America,  re- 
turning to  her  loved  work  in  India  in  1861.  Since  that 
time  she  has  had  charge  of  the  girls'  orphanage  at  Jellasore, 
and  has  performed  the  duties  of  the  station  with  marked 
ability  and  fidelity.  Too  much  can  not  be  said  in  praise  of 
this  devoted  missionary.  Though  the  Board  sent  her,  a 
lone  woman,  to  the  foreign  field  with  reluctance,  as  it  did 
Miss  Cumings,  ten  years  before,  such  has  been  the  manner 
in  which  she  has  acquitted  herself,  and  so  has  she  honored 
her  sex,  that  no  name  on  our  mission  roll  deserves  to  be 
written  higher  than  hers.  In  1S52,  Rev,  Benjamin  Burleigh 
Smith  and  wife,  of  New  Hampshire,  became  connected  with 
the  mission,  and  were  stationed  at  Balasore.  They  returned 
to  America  in  1862.  In  1869  they  went  again  to  India  and 
were  there  until  the  death  of  Mr.  Smith,  1872.  Mrs.  Smith 
remained  bravely  at  her  post  until  her  return  to  America  in 
1877.  The  record  of  Mr.  Smith  was  useful  and  honorable. 
He  was  industrious,  faithful  and  conscientious.  He  toiled 
amid  great  physical  suffering.  His  grave  is  in  Balasore, 
close  by  the  chapel  where  he  loved  to  preach. 

In  1852  the  health  of  Dr.  Bacheler  and  wife  rendered  it 
necessary  that  they  should  return  to  America,  where  they  ar- 


The  Forciorn    Mission.  12  = 


'i> 


rived  in  July.     In  addition  to  their  own  family  they  brought 
with  them  James  and  John  Phillips,  who  were  then  twelve 
years  old.     They  were  placed  in  the  school  at  Whitestown. 
Dr.  Bacheler  remained  in  America  ten  years.     During  this 
period  he  wrote,  published  and  lectured.      For  a  time  he 
acted  as  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Foreign  Mission 
Society.     His  services  were  of  untold  value.     He  did  much 
to  disseminate  a  knowledge  of  the  mission  and  its  work 
among  the  home  churches.     In  1862  he  returned  to  India, 
though  he  left  his  family  to  follow  him  three  years  later. 
He  believed  that  the  interests  of  the  mission  demanded  such 
a  sacrifice.     This  is  but  a  single  though  representative  inci- 
dent in  the  life  of  this  missionary  hero.     The  devotion  of 
Dr.  Bacheler,  however,   is  fully  rivaled  by  that  of  his  life- 
long co-laborer,  Dr.  Jeremiah  PhiUips.     In   1854  this  man 
had  been  in  India  eighteen  years.     He  was  entitled  to  re- 
turn to  the  land  of  his  birth,  and  the  Mission  Board  was  wil- 
ling that  he  should  do  so.     But  the  wants  of  the  mission, 
and  the  love  which  he  bore  to  it,  impelled  him  to  remain  in 
India,  while  he  sent  his  wife  and  children  home.     His  im- 
paired  health,   however,  compelled  him  to  follow   them  a 
year  later.     He  remained  in  America  nine   years.     In  his 
long   sojourn    here   the   hand   of  God  was   plainly   visible. 
During  this  period  he  exerted  a  beneficent  influence  on  the 
home  churches,  and  he  was  enabled  to  return  to  his  chosen 
work  with  restored  health  and  increased  vigor.     But  what 
was  by  no  means  least,  the  personal  parental  training  which 
he  was  enabled  to  give  in  a  western  prairie  home  was  just 
the  thing  needed  to  aid  in  qualifying  six  of  his  eleven  surviv- 
ing children  to  carry  forward  the  work  which  the  father  had 
undertaken.    That  was  a  memorable  day  in  December,  1864, 
when  the  ship  Elcano  sailed  out  of  Boston  harbor  with  five 
missionaries  on  board,  viz. :    Rev.  Jeremiah    Phillips   and 
wife.  Rev.  James  L.  Phillips  and  his  wife,  who  was  Miss 


126  Centennial  Record. 

Mary  R.  Sayles,  of  Pascoag,  R.  I.,  and  Miss  Julia  E.  Phillips, 
now  Mrs.  Burkholder.  Ida  Orissa,  the  )'oungest  daughter 
of  the  senior  missionary,  was  also  one  of  the  party.  To  the 
elder  Phillips  there  has  been  given  the  privilege  of  adding 
fourteen  years  to  his  record  of  valuable  service.  The  sta- 
tions at  Santipore  and  Dantoon  were  established  by  him 
during  this  period.  It  was  only  last  year  that  he  returned  to 
his  native  America  to  die.  Crowned  with  honors,  and  his 
name  untarnished  by  a  single  stain,  his  last  days,  of  extreme 
physical  suffering,  were  filled  with  bright  and  joyous  antici- 
pations. His  wife,  who  had  been  for  nearly  forty  years  the 
partner  of  his  labors,  and  his  children,  still  in  America,  at- 
tended him.  Relying  for  salvation  not  upon  what  he  had 
done,  the  language  of  his  heart  was,  as  he  passed  to  the  un- 
seen world : 

"  My  hope  is  built  on  nothing  less 
Than  Jesus'  blood  and  righteousness." 

The  mission  was  reinforced  by  Rev.  E.  C.  B.  Hallam  and 
wife  in  1856  ;  and  by  Rev.  Arthur  Miller  and  wife  in  1859. 
These  missionaries  were  from  Canada  West.  They  had 
zeal,  ability  and  other  qualifications  for  their  work.  The 
first  Mrs.  Hallam  died  on  a  return  passage  to  America, 
and  a  second  Mrs.  Hallam  went  to  India  with  her  husband 
on  his  return  thither  in  1866.  Mr.  Hallam  terminated  his 
connection  with  our  mission  in  187 1,  and  he  has  since  la- 
bored in  another  mission  field.  Mr.  Miller  fell  a  victim  to 
excessive  labors  during  the  severe  famine  which  visited  In- 
dia in  1866.  After  great  suffering,  he  finished  his  work  in 
1868,  at  the  early  age  of  39  years. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bacheler  spent  a  short  but  needed  vacation 
period  in  America,  arriving  here  in  1870.  When  they  re- 
turned in  1873,  there  went  with  them  Rev.  A.  J.  Marshall 
and  his  wife,  Mrs.  Emily  Phillips  Marshall,  and  Miss  S.  Lib- 


The   Foreign   Mission.  127 

bie  Cilley,  all  of  Michigan.  In  1874,  Rev.  R.  D.  Frost,  of 
Iowa,  joined  the  mission,  and  later  in  the  same  year  Mr. 
Richard  M.  Lawrence,  of  Wisconsin,  and  Misses  Mary  E. 
French,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Susan  R.  Libby,  of  New 
Hampshire.  In  consequence  of  ill  health  Mr.  Frost  and 
Misses  Cilley  and  French  have  returned  to  America.  Miss 
Libby  was  married  to  an  English  civil  engineer,  and  has 
since  died.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Marshall  are  stationed  at  Bala- 
sore,  and  Mr.  Lawrence  has  charge  of  the  press  at  Midna- 
pore.  All  are  doing  efficient  work.  Miss  Ida  O.  Phillips 
joined  the  mission  in  1877,  and  is  stationed  at  Balasore. 

After  ten  full  years  of  service  in  India,  and  in  May,  1875, 
the  younger  Dr.'  Phillips,  his  wife,  and  his  sister  Julia  re- 
turned for  a  needed  vacation  in  America.  The  labors  of 
these  missionaries  had  been  of  great  value.  Among  other 
things,  the  ladies  had  commenced  the  zenana  work  in  Mid- 
napore,  and  had  largely  carried  it  forward.  The  pre-emi- 
nent ability  of  Dr.  Phillips,  his  superior  scholarship,  his  val- 
uable medical  knowledge,  his  fervid  eloquence,  his  young 
and  vigorous  manhood,  together  with  his  marked  power  of 
personal  character  are  prominent  qualifications  for  his  work 
and  they  render  him  efficient  in  it.  During  the  sojourn 
of  these  missionaries  in  America,  embracing  a  period  of 
nearly  three  years  and  a  half,  they  were  exceedingly 
active.  The  missionary  spirit  in  the  churches  was  greatly 
revived,  and  new  plans  were  devised.  The  raising  of 
$25,000  for  the  endowment  of  the  Bible  School  was  under- 
taken by  Dr.  Phillips,  and  was  successfully  accomplished. 
These  missionaries  left  again  for  India,  Oct.  5th,  1878. 
There  accompanied  them,  Rev,  Thomas  W.  Burkholder,  of 
Harrisburg,  Pa. ;  Miss  Hattie  P.  Phillips,  of  Chicago ;  Miss 
Jessie  B.  Hooper,  of  New  Brunswick,  and  Miss  Frankie  Mil- 
lard, of  Michigan,  who  soon  became  Mrs.  Lawrence  ;  also, 
four  children  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Phillips.     This  was  the  largest 


128  Centennial  Record. 

company  ever  sent  by  our  Society  to  India  at  one  time. 
Rev.  Milo  J.  Coldren,  of  Michigan,  also  sailed  for  India  in 
October  last,  and  arrived  in  January. 

This  Society  has  had  in  all  thirty-eight  missionaries.  Of 
these  ten  are  known  to  have  died.  Fifteen,  including  five 
men  and  their  wives,  four  single  women  and  one  single  man, 
are  now  in  actual  service  in  India.  For  the  praise  of  the 
men,  and  to  hold  them  up  as  an  example  to  others,  it  may 
be  said  that  for  a  period  of  forty  years,  Jeremiah  Phillips 
and  Otis  R.  Bacheler  have  never  stood  before  the  Free  Bap- 
tist denomination  as  opponents,  or  even  rivals,  but  always  as 
co-laborers  and  friends.  Fortunate  has  been  the  Socie'y  to 
have  such  servants,  and  honored  has  been  the  denomination 
to  have  such  representatives.  In  the  generations  to  come 
they  will  for  their  devotion,  service,  sacrifice  and  characters, 
tower  in  even  grander  proportions  then  we  see  them  to-day. 

THE    HOME    FIELD    AND    WORKERS. 

We  will  now  turn  to  the  consideration  of  the  work  and 
the  workers  in  the  home  field.  The  interest  in  the  mission- 
ary cause,  from  year  to  year,  has  been  indicated  very  large- 
ly by  the  receipts  of  the  treasurer.  During  a  period  of  forty- 
seven  years,  these  have  been  in  the  aggregate,  about 
^327,000,  making  a  yearly  average  of  nearly  ^7,000.  These 
figures  do  not  include  the  Bible-school  fund  and  the  contri- 
butions of  benevolent  and  well-disposed  persons  in  India, 
which  have  amounted  to  a  large  sum  in  the  aggregate. 
During  the  first  decade  of  the  existence  of  the  Society,  the 
receipts  were  in  the  aggregate  and  in  round  numbers 
$19,340,  or  less  than  ^2,000  per  year.  The  largest  yearly  re- 
ceipts were  $3,556  in  1842.  For  the  second  decade  they 
were  $37,299,  or  a  little  more  than  $3,700  per  year.  The 
largest  were  $5,619  in  1848.  For  the  third  decade,  they 
were  $50,996,  or  a  little  more  than  $5,000  per  year.     The 


The   Foreign   Mission,  129 

largest  were  $7,602  in  1856.  For  the  fourth  decade  they 
were  $113,698,  or  more  than  Si  1,000  per  year,  and  more 
than  double  the  amount  of  the  preceding  decade.  The 
largest  were  $15,667  in  1866.  During  seven  years  of  the 
present  decade  they  have  been  $106,314,  or  more  than 
$15,000  per  year.  The  largest  have  been  $19,914  in  1879, 
which  are  more  than  they  were  during  the  whole  of  the  first 
decade.  These  figures  are  eloquent,  and  abound  in  encour- 
agement. They  declare  very  emphatically  that  the  churches 
are  making  steady  progress,  and  purpose  the  ultimate  Chris- 
tianization  of  India. 

The  borders  of  the  home  field  have  been  enlarged,  and  it 
has  been,  from  year  to  year,  subjected  to  a  more  thorough 
cultivation.  The  number  of  churches  contributing  for  for- 
eign missions  has  constantly  increased.  For  the  year  end- 
ing in  October,  1879,  i^  reached  six  hundred  and  twenty-six. 
During  the  long  vacation  of  Dr.  Bacheler  in  this  country,  he 
visited  the  Free  Christian  Baptists  of  New  Brunswick  and 
planted  the  seed  of  missionary  interest  among  that  people. 
In  1864,  Dr.  James  L.  Phillips  visited  them.  They  then 
formed  a  Foreign  Mission  Society  which  adopted  him  as  its 
missionary,  and  pledged  his  salary  in  India,  and  it  paid  it  un- 
til his  return  thither  in  1878.  The  ladies  of  New  Brunswick 
sustain  Miss  Hooper  in  India.  In  1868  the  Free  Christian 
Baptists  of  Nova  Scotia  formed  a  Foreign  Mission  Society 
which  adopted  Miss  Julia  E.  Phillips  as  its  missionary,  and 
it  has  contributed  towards  her  salary.  Sums  of  money  have 
been,  from  time  to  time,  contributed  for  her  benefit  through 
the. instrumentality  of  Mrs.  P.  L.  Upham,  of  New  York,  the 
widow  of  the  late  Prof.  Thomas  C.  Upham  of  blessed  mem- 
ory. This  excellent  woman,  though  a  member  of  another 
communion,  has  been  a  warm  friend  of  our  cause  in  India. 
The  treasury  of  this  Society  has  been  pre-eminently  the 
Lord's,  and  contributions  to  it  have,  as  a  rule,  been  attend- 


130  Centennial  Record. 

ed  with  prayers,  tears  and  sacrifices.  There  have  been 
many  widows'  mites.  Some  rich  men,  also,  have  contribut- 
ed of  their  abundance.  In  a  town  on  the  opposite  shore  of 
this  beautiful  lake  Uves  an  old  man  whom  God  has  greatly 
blessed  with  worldly  goods.  It  must  be  said  to  his  praise 
that  he  has  been  a  regular  and  special  giver  during  a  long 
series  of  years.  He  was  among  the  largest  individual  do- 
nors of  the  Bible-school  fund.  When  the  contributors  of 
the  ^327,000  of  the  aggregate  receipts  of  this  Society  shall 
be  written,  the  name  of  Adam  Brown*  will  stand  high  upon 
the  list.  There  are  doubtless  many  of  whom  he  is  a  fitting 
representative. 

The  home  field  has  also  been  enlarged  and  better  cultivat- 
ed through  the  special  efforts  of  woman,  who  has  doubtless 
given  more  in  the  aggregate  than  her  brother.  What  was 
known  as  the  Freewill  Baptist  Female  Mission  Society  was 
organized  in  October,  1847.  For  more  than  twenty  years  it 
continued  in  active  operation.  There  were  in  it  noble 
workers,  and  it  did  efficient  work  in  diffusing  missionary  in- 
teUigence  and  in  raising  funds.  The  record  of  its  noble 
deeds  will  be  found  v^Titten  on  high.  It  was  the  fitting 
forerunner  of  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  to-day. 

The  penetration  of  the  walls  of  the  zenanas  of  India  was 
the  signal  of  a  new  departure  in  missionary  work.  There  was 
a  movement  all  along  the  line.  The  women  in  every  evan- 
gelical denomination  in  America  felt  it.  "  Woman's  work  for 
woman,"  the  Christian  women  in  America  for  their  benighted 
sisters  in  India,  was  the  watch-word,  and  many  responded 
to  it.  The  Free  Baptist  women  heard  the  cry  and  mar- 
shalled for  duty.  The  Woman's  Society  was  organized  in 
June,  1873.  Among  its  foundation  principles  are  loyalty  to, 
and  co-operation  with,  this  Society,  and  after  all  obligations 


*Mr.  Brown  died  Nov.  25,  1880,  aged  87  years. 


The  Foreign    Mission.  131 

to  it  have  been  met,  that  its  members  shall  pay  into  its  own 
treasury  such  sums,  two  cents  per  week  or  more,  as  they  c  an 
spare.  It  seeks  to  enlist  the  children  in  its  work.  The 
plan  has  met  with  approval,  and  success  has  attended  the  ef- 
forts made.  This  Society  sent  Miss  Susan  Libby  to  India 
in  1874,  Miss  Ida  Phillips  in  1877  and  Miss  Hattie  PhiUips 
in  1878,  the  last  being  the  work  of  the  women  in  Rhode 
Island,  who  stand  in  the  foreground  of  this  movement. 
This  Society  also  pays  zenana  teachers  in  India,  and  helps 
sustain  the  ragged  schools  which  Mrs.  Phillips  has  recently 
instituted.  It  also  contributes  towards  the  work  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  and  Myrtle  Hall  at  that  place  stands  as  one  of  its 
monuments.  It  thus  embraces  in  its  work  home  missions  as 
well  as  foreign.  Under  its  auspices  the  Missionary  Helper, 
a  bi-monthly  magazine,  was  issued  from  Providence,  R.  I., 
in  January,  1878,  and  it  has  constantly  grown  in  power  and 
influence.  It  is  now  a  recognized  force  in  every  depart- 
ment of  the  mission  work  in  the  home  field.  This  Society 
does  not  know  what  it  is  to  have  a  depleted  treasury.  May 
God  speed  it  on  in  the  true  way,  and  make  it  more  and 
more  efficient ! 

And  what  of  the  workers  ?  Though  they  have  been  many, 
we  can  mention  by  name  but  few.  The  Board,  or  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  of  the  Society,  has  had  its  work  directly 
in  charge,  and  its  authority  should  always  and  everywhere  be 
recognized  and  respected.  The  chief  responsibilities  have 
come  upon  the  Corresponding  Secretary  and  the  Treasurer. 
The  latter  office  has  been  held  by  only  five  persons,  viz. : 
Isaac  N.  Sanborn,  Wm.  Burr,  Charles  O.  Libby,  Nahum 
Brooks  and  the  present  incumbent,  Silas  Curtis.  The  sec- 
ond Treasurer,  Wm.  Burr,  held  the  office  from  1837  to  1866, 
or  until  his  death,  a  period  of  twenty-nine  years.  The  du- 
ties of  the  office  were  performed  by  him  gratuitously,  and  in 
connection  with  numerous  others ;  also  with  the  ability  and 


132  Centennial  Record. 

fidelity  for  which  that  good  man's  name  has  long  been  a 
synonym.  He  retained  the  treasuryship  of  this  Society  even 
after  he  had  relinquished  that  of  each  of  the  other  benevo- 
lent societies.  This  Society  has  had  nine  Corresponding 
Secretaries,  viz. :  Samuel  Burbank,  Amos  Sutton,  Daniel  P. 
Cilley,  Enoch  Mack,  Elias  Hutchins,  Otis  R.  Bacheler, 
Charles  O.  Libby,  James  L.  Phillips,  and  the  present  in- 
cumbent, Charles  S.  Perkins.  Its  fifth  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary, Elias  Hutchins,  held  the  office  from  1841  to  1859, 
or  until  his  death,  a  period  of  eighteen  years.  He  per- 
formed the  duties  of  the  office  for  the  most  part  gratuitously 
and  with  a  conspicuous  devotion  and  ability.  They  were 
only  one  department  of  the  work  which  this  good  man  did 
for  the  Lord  Jesus.  Standing  between  the  churches  and  the 
ministers  of  the  denomination  on  the  one  hand  and  the  mis- 
sionaries in  India  on  the  other,  he  was  loved  and  trusted  by 
all.  His  reports  were  models  of  excellence.  The  third 
Treasurer  and  the  seventh  Corresponding  Secretary  were 
combined  in  one  man,  Charles  O.  Libby.  He  held  the 
last-named  office  fourteen  years  and  the  first-named  ten 
years,  resigning  both  in  1876.  He  devoted  his  entire  time 
to  the  work  for  ten  years,  and  received  a  salary,  as  he 
should  have  done.  He  labored  hard,  bore  heavy  burdens 
and  achieved  success.  Through  his  efforts  the  receipts  of 
the  Society  were  greatly  increased.  Among  those  who  have 
been  members  of  the  Executive  Committee,  these  deserve 
recognition  :  Ebenezer  Knowlton,  Theodore  Stevens,  Na- 
hum  Brooks,  Daniel'  M.  Graham  and  George  W.  Bean. 
Some  of  them,  together  with  its  President  and  some  of  the 
other  members  of  the  Board,  as  now  constituted,  have  stood 
by  the  fortunes  of  the  Society  during  a  long  series  of  years. 
We  must  add  one  more  to  these  foreign  missionary  workers 
in  the  home  field.  It  is  she  that  during  all  the  years  of  the 
existence  of  this  Society,  for  she  witnessed  the  departure 


^^'-CtJi^    (^^-^^-t^^^^^Z^-i^l,^^ 


The   Foreign    Mission.  133 

of  the  first  missionaries,  has  not  grown  old  in  spirit  in  labor- 
ing for  the  cause,  whose  faith  has  not  faltered,  whose  fires  of 
zeal  have  not  dimmed  and  who  has  been  the  inspirer  of 
many.  Long  may  this  mother  in  Israel  live  to  bless  the 
cause  of  Christian  missions. 


CONCLUSION. 

Fathers  and  brethren,  the  story  is  completed.  The  chap- 
ter is  a  grand  one.  The  history  of  the  denomination  does 
not  furnish  a  grander.  While  too  many  have  had  their  at- 
tention exclusively  occupied  with  interests  at  home,  this 
work  has  gone  forward  abroad.  Truly  God  has  worked  a 
work  in  our  day  for  heathen  India.  Though  it  has  pro- 
gressed slowly,  it  has  been  immense.  The  dying  Phillips 
said,  "  India  is  sure  for  Christ.  I  have  no  doubt  of  it.  The 
progress  of  the  gospel  is  already  greater  than  most  of  us 
know."  These  words  declare  a  fact  confirmed  by  abun- 
dant proof,  and  they  inspire  faith.  Though  the  work  in  In- 
dia has  cost  money,  it  has  returned  blessings  which  money 
can  not  purchase.  It  has  afforded  noble  examples  of  Chris- 
tian heroism ;  it  has  given  the  consciousness  of  obeying  the 
great  commission ;  it  has  stimulated  the  spirit  of  complete 
consecration ;  it  has  begotten  unfaltering  faith ;  it  has  im- 
parted a  broadened  vision;  and  it  has  produced  a  sense 
of  fellowship  with  all  for  whom  Christ  died.  If,  by  the 
comparatively  few,  and  as  the  result  of  the  small  interest 
which  has  been  manifest,  so  much  has  been  done,  what  may 
we  not  expect  will  be  done,  when  all  shall  become  thorough- 
ly awakened?  From  tnis  time  forth,  let  "India  for  Christ," 
be  the  watch-word.  In  the  future  day,  we  shall  stand  by 
the  side  of  our  Hindoo  brothers,  saved  by  the  common 
Saviour,  regenerated  by  the  only  Holy  Spirit,  serving  one 


134  Centennial  Record. 

Father  and  claiming  the  same  heaven  for  our  eternal  home. 
The  stewards  of  God,  let  us  be  faithful  to  our  trust,  and 
long  before  the  second  century  of  our  denominational  exist- 
ence shall  be  completed,  there  will  be  no  longer  heathen 
India,  but  that  dark  though  fair  land  shall  have  been  trans- 
formed into  Christian  India,  and  shall  have  become  a  re- 
stored earthly  paradise  of  God. 


THE  HOME  MISSION. 


Wherever  the  Freewill  Baptist  cause  is  strong  to-day,  in 
New  England  or  the  West,  it  can  be  showTi  that  it  began  in 
the  evangelistic  missionary  labors  of  men  who  had  imbibed 
the  spirit  of  our  founder,  and  burned  with  zeal  for  the  salva- 
tion of  sinners.  Without  that  spirit,  the  denomination  could 
hardly  have  extended  beyond  that  hill-town  of  New  Durham 
itself,  where  Randall  formed  the  first  church.  It  was  a  reviv- 
al of  that  spirit,  fifty  years  later,  in  the  midst  of  the  spuitual 
depression  and  weakness  that  prevailed  among  the  churches, 
that  led  to  the  organization  of  the  Home  Mission  Society. 
From  all  parts  of  the  denomination  there  were  arising  ur- 
gent calls  for  missionary  help,  and  brethren  soon  began  to 
feel  the  need  of  an  organization  which  should  not  only  aid 
in  developing  the  missionary  spirit,  but  should  serve  as  a  me- 
dium through  which  its  gifts  might  be  applied  where  the  need 
was  most  pressing.  Accordingly  David  Marks,  after  consult- 
ing with  a  few  other  persons,  wrote  and  inserted  the  follow- 
ing notice  in  "The  Morning  Star"  of  July  9,  1834  : 

"NOTICE. 

"  FREEWILL   BAPTIST   AMERICAN   JHSSIONARY   SOCIETY. 

"  A  meeting  will  be  held  at  Dover,  N.  H.,  on  Thursday,  July 
31,  1834,  at  10  o'clock  A.  M.,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing 
a  Home  Missionary  Society.  As  this  is  a  subject  of  great  im- 
portance, and  the  Society  is  designed  for  the  service  of  the 
whole  connexion,  we  hope  our  brethren  in  the  ministry  and  oth- 
ers interested,  both  in  this  and  other  States,  will  make  their  ar- 
rangements so  as  to  meet  agreeably  to  the  above  appointment." 


136  Centennial  Record. 

Oil  the  appointed  day  (July  31,  1834),  a  goodly  number 
of  persons  assembled  in  the  Freewill  Baptist  meeting  house 
in  Dover,  and  amid  their  prayers  and  tears  the  Home  Mis- 
sion Society  was  organized.  Ten  men  at  once  became  Life 
Members  of  the  Society  by  subscribing  $15  each,  and  four 
women  honorary  members  for  life  by  subscribing  $10  each, 
and  one  zealous  brother,  a  farmer,  who  had  walked  thirteen 
miles  in  the  July  sun  to  attend  the  meeting,  left  $15  with  the 
Treasurer  and  returned  home  with  a  happy  heart.*  The 
constitution  and  by-laws  then  adopted  through  a  committee 
consisting  of  Revs.  David  Marks  and  Arthur  Caverno  and 
Wm.  Burr,  Esq.,  have  served  the  Society  until  the  present 
time  with  only  slight  modification. 

The  object  of  the  Society  was  stated  to  be  "  the  dissemina- 
tion of  the  Gospel  in  North  America."  Its  first  annual  meet- 
ing was  held  at  Lisbon,  N.  H.,  Friday,  June  12,  1835. 
Neither  the  President,  nor  the  Recording  Secretary,  nor  ei- 
ther of  the  five  Vice  Presidents  was  present,  but  it  appears 
from  the  Corresponding  Secretary's  report,  which  was  duly 
presented,  that  the  young  Society  had  been  active  during  the 
year.  Rev.  J.  Woodman,  who  had  been  employed  as  the 
first  missionary!  of  the  Society,  had  traveled  in  its  interests 
during  a  part  of  the  year,  had  formed  several  auxiliary  socie- 
ties, and  had  labored  nearly  two  months  in  Boston,  resulting 
in  the  addition  of  seventeen  persons  to  the  church  there  and 
the  admission  of  the  church  itself  to  the  Rockingham  Quar- 
terly Meeting.  He  had  also  labored  a  few  weeks  in  Port- 
land, Me.,  and  the  Report  chronicles  "  a  prospect  of  a 
church  being  gathered  there."  Rev.  S.  J.  Pitman  had  been 
appointed  a  missionary  to  Ohio,  to  answer  the  repeated  and 
urgent  requests  firom  the  now  failing  churches  which  Colby 
had  formed  there  25  years  previously,  and  conversions  and 

*  The  Morning  Star,  Vol.  9,  No.  16. 
faoth  Annual  Report, 


The  Home  Mission.  137 

baptisms  were  already  reported  from  him.  At  this  meeting 
the  Society  re-employed  Rev.  J.  Woodman  for  six  months  of 
the  ensuing  year,  ordained  Rev.  B.  F.  Nealy,  of  Montpelier, 
Vt.,  to  be  the  Society's  missionary  in  the  Mississippi  valley, 
sent  Rev.  Zebina  Young  to  labor  as  a  missionary  in  the 
Wheelock  Quarterly  Meeting  in  Vermont,  and  instructed  the 
Executive  Committee  to  prosecute  a  vigorous  campaign 
against  the  hosts  of  sin. 

As  the  year  progressed.  Rev.  B.  F.  Nealy,  who  had  estab- 
Ushed  himself  at  Howard,  Mich.,  a  town  near  the  St.  Joseph's 
river,  1S5  miles  south-west  of  Detroit  and  90  miles  east  of 
Chicago,  called  for  an  assistant,  and  Rev.  S.  L.  Julian  was 
sent  to  his  aid  in  July  (1836),  but  he  was  preceded  by  two 
young  ladies,  Misses  Amy  Lord,  of  Great  Falls,  N.  H.,  and 
Alice  Abbott,  of  Standish,  Me.,  who  had  left  Dover  in  May, 
and  were  soon  engaged  in  teaching  week-day  and  Sunday- 
schools  in  the  vicinity  of  Howard — a  work  which  they  pur- 
sued lovingly  and  profitably  for  several  years.  In  New  York, 
through  zeal  inspired  by  home  missionary  influences,  several 
churches  were  organized  in  the  winter  and  spring,  a  Quarter- 
ly Meeting  (the  French  Creek)  was  formed,  and  calls  for 
missionaries  came  from  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Maine,  only  a 
part  of  which  could  be  answered  owing  to  limited  resources. 
In  May  (1836)  Wm.  Burr  was  sent  as  an  agent  to  the  West 
to  inspect  the  work.  He  visited  New  York,  Indiana  and 
Michigan — Howard  in  the  last  State  being  the  principal 
point  of  interest — and  returned  to  Dover  June  21.  His  re- 
port was  encouraging,  and  his  letters  in  "The  Morning 
Star"  did  much  to  awaken  confidence  and  interest  in  the 
Society's  work. 

Meanwhile,  on  June  10  and  11,  the  second  annual  meeting 
of  the  Society  had  been  held  at  Sandwich,  in  connection  with 
the  New  Hampshire  Yearly  Meeting,  as  was  the  custom  at 
that  time.     The  meeting  was  peculiar.     It  was  the  young  So- 


138  Centennial  Record. 

ciety's  testing  time,  and  its  friends  were  filled  with  anxiety. 
The  circumstances  were  as  follows  :  Some  of  the  more  zeal- 
ous members  of  the  Society  desired  to  have  public  anniversa- 
ry exercises,  and  they  had  proposed  to  appoint  their  meeting 
Saturday,  at  i  o'clock  p.  m.  "But  now,"  says  the  Secretary 
in  his  record  of  the  meeting,  "  it  was  thought  by  some  of  our 
brethren  present  that  it  would  be  unsafe  to  adjourn  the  Mis- 
sion meeting  to  that  hour,  which  is  generally  or  always  ap- 
propriated to  the  services  common  to  the  Yearly  Meeting. 
It  was  thought  that  by  such  a  measure  we  should  hazard  the 
displeasure  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  and  endanger  the  interests 
of  Zion.  Saturday  afternoon  seemed  to  be  regarded  as  sa- 
cred to  the  services  of  preaching,  exhortation,  &c.,  and  there- 
fore to  appropriate  that  time  to  any  kind  of  business  meeting 
would  be  an  unwarrantable  innovation  upon  established  usage, 
if  not  a  fatal  desecration  of  that  day  and  occasion." 

But  it  was  finally  decided  to  appoint  the  meeting  on  Satur- 
day, and  risk  the  consequences.  "  During  Friday  afternoon 
and  Saturday  morning,"  says  the  Secretary,  "many  fearful 
forebodings  were  expressed  by  some  of  our  brethren  and  by 
some  of  the  members  of  the  Society,  that  the  proposed  meas- 
ure would  be  attended  with  calamitous  consequences."  Fi- 
nally the  hour  approached,  and  amid  "  whisperings  that  there 
was  a  strong  opposition  against  the  reading  of  the  Report," 
and  amid  "fear  and  trembling  from  apprehended  dangers" 
the  Secretary  arose  to  read.  "  The  labor  and  effect,"  he  tells 
us,  "  of  bringing  forth  before  that  meeting  the  sentiments 
with  which  the  Report  opened,  seemed  to  the  reader  like  the 
breaking  up  of  thick  ice — as  if  you  must  swim  through  a 
chilling,  wintry  flood,  up  stream,  and  break  away  the  ice  be- 
fore you." 

But  there  was  no  outbreak.  The  Report  melted  those  icy 
hearts  as  if  it  had  been  a  living  flame.  At  its  conclusion  vol- 
unteer addresses  were  made,  and  people  "  began  to  feel  for 


The  Home  Mission.  139 

their  wallets."  A  Mr.  David  Webster  threw  a  ringing  half- 
eagle  on  to  the  table,  remarking  it  was  "  all  he  had,  and  he 
must  trust  to  the  Lord  to  help  him  home  ;  "  another  brought 
forward  a  handkerchief,  which  he  had  just  paid  a  dollar  for — 
all  he  had  to  give ;  old  Gen.  Hoitt,  a  hearty  Methodist,  gave 
$20 ;  a  hat  was  passed  around,  in  which  $94.86  was  col- 
lected, and  this  sum  a  Bro.  Williams  Thayer  at  once  made  up 
to  :^ioo.  Thenceforth  the  Society  had  an  assured  place  in 
the  confidence  of  the  people. 

During  the  next  year  (June  1836 — June  1837)  Miss  Jeru- 
sha  Darling,  ofVermont,  was  employed  as  a  missionary  teacher, 
and  stationed  at  Lafayette,  Mich.  Rev.  S.  L.  Julian  continued 
as  a  missionary  in  the  same  State,  along  with  Rev.  B.  F. 
Nealy,  and  the  Howard  Quarterly  Meeting  was  organized 
there,  composed  of  the  Galena,  Howard  and  Noble  churches, 
the  last  named  church  being  across  the  boundary  line  in  In- 
diana. Eight  years  later  this  Quarterly  Meeting  contained 
ten  churches,  but  in  1847  five  churches  were  set  off  from  it 
to  form  the  Van  Buren  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  it  has  not 
appeared  in  the  Register  %v!\zt  1848,  when  its  remaining 
churches  had  either  become  extinct  or  had  united  with  other 
Quarterly  Meetings. 

During  the  winter  of  1837-38  Rev.  John  Stevens  was  sent 
as  a  missionary  to  the  Montville  Quarterly  Meeting  in  Maine. 
Revivals  attended  his  work  in  the  towns  of  Hope,  Lincoln- 
ville,  Montville,  Liberty,  Appleton  and  China,  and  many  of 
the  languishing  churches  in  that  section  were  brought  back 
to  Hfe. 

Rev.  J.  Woodman  did  some  agency  work  during  this  year, 
Rev.  B.  F.  Nealy  traveled  through  New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont  in  behalf  of  the  interest  in  Michigan,  and  Rev.  A. 
Dodge,  of  New  York,  went  as  a  missionary  to  Michigan, 
where  he  organized  a  church  at  Decatur,  returning  to  New 
York  in    1839.     Rev.  Richard  Reed  was  also  employed  as 


140  Centennial  Reco7'd. 

a  missionary  a  short  time  in  1838,  and  Rev.  A.  C.  Andrus 
labored  in  northern  Indiana. 

The  Society  had  applied  to  the  New  Hampshire  Legislature 
several  times  for  an  act  of  Incorporation,  but  had  failed  to 
get  it,  "from  the  alleged  reason,"  says  the  Secretary  in  his 
third  annual  Report,  "that  some  of  the  Freewill  Baptists 
taught  that  the  gospel  inculcated  the  abolition  of  slavery 
and  were  actually  engaged  in  promulgating  the  doctrine  of 
abolition."  But  at  the  June  session  of  the  Legislature  in 
1838  the  Society  was  duly  incorporated  and  its  friends  re- 
joiced. 

We  have  thus  far  referred  only  in  general  terms  to  the 
mission  in  Michigan,  It  is  noticeable  that  the  first  work 
to  which  the  Society  was  committed  in  the  West  was 
an  educational  work.  Its  missionary  there,  Rev.  B.  F. 
Nealy,  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  college,  and  on  reaching  the 
State  in  1835,  he  at  once  bought  a  quarter  section  of  land 
in  Howard  township,  erected  a  log  cabin  and  advertised  that 
the  first  term  of  Randalian  seminary  would  open  Dec.  9, 
which  it  did,  with  about  thirty  pupils.  The  seminary — that 
is,  the  log  cabin — contained  a  loft,  not  high  enough  for  a 
person  to  stand  erect  in,  and  here,  in  the  smoke  and  con- 
finement, all  through  that  winter,  the  devoted  wife  of  this 
missionary  performed  her  domestic  duties  while  he  was 
teaching  the  school  below.  Mr.  Nealy  had  great  faith  in 
this  enterprise,  for  we  find  him  the  next  summer  erecting 
a  board  building  for  a  church  and  seminary,  a  kind  of  theo- 
logical school  in  the  wilderness,  and  foretelling  a  prosper- 
ous future.  The  project  promised  well  on  Wm.  Burr's  visit 
in  1836,  but  the  improvements  just  noted  left  a  debt,  and 
in  1837,  embarrassments  being  reported,  the  Society  sent  a 
committee  to  make  an  examination.  The  debt  was  found 
to  be  only  $704.45,  but  the  location  was  pronounced  unfav- 
orable for  founding  a  seminary,  and  in  1839  the  whole    con- 


The  Home  Mission.  141 

cern  was  put  into  Rev.  J.  Woodman's  hands  to  dispose  of, 
and  he  sold  it  the  next  year  (1S40)  for  $800. 

Do  you  call  the  project  a  failure?  Rather  it  was  the  be- 
ginning of  a  most  glorious  success,  for  we  believe  its  later 
consummation  appeared  in  after  years,  first  atSpring  Arbor 
and  then  at  Hillsdale,  where  the  college  may  not  be  inap- 
propriately pointed  to  as  a  witness  to  the  enduring  worth  of 
the  Home  Mission  Society's  work. 

The  Society  had  hitherto  directed  its  attention  chiefly  to 
Michigan,  and  particularly  to  the  Howard  enterprise.  But 
it  was  now  determined  to  enlarge  the  field  of  operations,  a 
pohcy  that  was  announced  in  the  Secretary's  Report  for 
1839.  Rev.  S.  L.  Julian  was  accordingly  sent  into  Illinois, 
and  on  Dec.  29  of  that  year,  at  the  house  of  a  Rev.  John 
Hetzler,  in  Greenfield,  the  Fox  River  Quarterly  Meeting  was 
organized,  and  it  continues  to  this  day.  In  the  East  two 
new  churches  were  added  to  the  Montville  Quarterly 
Meeting  through  the  missionary's  labors,  and  Rev.  John 
Chaney  was  sent  on  a  tour  of  observation  into  Nova  Scotia, 
whence  a  call  had  come  for  Freewill  Baptist  preachers. 
He  found  a  pronounced  Freewill  Baptist  sentiment  there, 
organized  two  churches — the  Barrington  and  Wood'sHar- 
bor — and  favored  sending  a  missionary  to  carry  forward 
the  work.  This  was  done,  and  during  the  next  few  years 
precious  revivals  were  witnessed  in  the  Province  under 
the  labors  of  Revs.  Mark  Atwood  and  M.  C.  Henderson,  of 
Vermont,  the  Society's  missionaries. 

In  1 84 1  Rev.  H.  S.  Limbockeris  first  mentioned  in  the  re- 
port on  the  Michigan  mission.  He  had  been  doing  inde- 
pendent missionary  work  in  the  State  for  ten  years,  in  Jack- 
son, Leoni  and  other  places,  and  had  organized  ten  church- 
es and  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  Michigan  Yearly  Meeting. 
Revs.  A.  C.  Andrus  and  R.  M.  Carey  were  sent  into  Illinois 
this  year  under  special  instructions  of  the  Society  to  wage  un- 


142  Centennial  Record. 

compromising  warfare  on  slavery.  They  obeyed  to  the  let- 
ter, and  were  frequently  in  great  peril  on  account  of  it — 
thi-eatened  with  tar  and  feathers,  beset  by  hooting  mobs  and 
pelted  with  rocks — but  they  came  of  unscathed. 

The  anniversary  of  the  Society  in  1842  was  unusually  inter- 
esting. The  attendance  was  large,  reports  from  the  missiona- 
ries were  encouraging,  and  a  comparatively  liberal  amount  was 
pledged  to  carry  on  the  work.  In  1843  came  the  first  call 
for  a  missionary  to  Chicago.  Three  missionaries  were  em- 
ployed this  year  in  Ilhnois,  and  at  Quincy  Rev.  C.  M.  Sew- 
all  organized  a  promising  church,  which  had  a  few  prosper- 
ous years,  and  then  split  on  the  slavery  question  and  finally 
disappeared.  The  Society  also  aided  the  church  in  Portland, 
Me.,  this  year  in  buying  the  place  of  worship  which  it  has 
since  occupied. 

We  now  come  to  the  anniversary  of  the  Society  in  1844, 
and  the  close  of  its  first  decade.  Let  us  summarize.  At  its 
first  annual  meeting  the  Society  had  but  ten  Life  Members 
and  four  honorary  members  for  life  [the  women  were  called 
honorary  members].  At  its  tenth  anniversary  it  had  only  67 
Life  Members  aad  34  honorary  members.  Its  receipts  the 
first  year  were  ^209.98  and  its  expenditures  were  $129.79 — 
the  smallest  sum  expended  in  any  year  of  its  history.  Its 
smallest  receipts  for  any  year  were  $164.89,  in  1839-40, 
when  its  expenditures  were  $181.38  ;  and  its  largest  receipts 
were  $1166  in  1836-7,  when  its  expenditures  were  $1348.38 
— the  largest  sum  expended  during  the  decade.  The  aggre 
gate  of  receipts  was  $5525.74,  and  of  expenditures  $5886.60, 
for  the  decade. 

During  the  first  year  the  Society  employed  but  one  salaried 
missionary — Rev.  J.  Woodman — who  labored  two  months  in 
Boston  and  two  in  Portland.  In  each  of  the  years  '37-8,  '42 
-3  and  '43-4  the  Society  employed  five  missionaries, 
and  during  the  decade  it  employed  twelve,  whose  service 


The  Home  Mission.  143 

equaled  the  continued  service  of  one  man  for  nearly  twenty- 
two  years,  and  was  distributed  in  the  proportion  of  five 
months  in  Massachusetts  (all  in  Boston)  ;  one  year  in  Wis- 
consin (principally  in  what  is  now  the  Honey  Creek  Quarterly 
Meeting)  ;  three  years  and  eight  months  in  Maine  (two 
years  and  six  months  in  Montville  Quarterly  Meeting,  one 
year  in  Penobscot  valley  and  two  months  in  Portland)  ;  six 
years  and  ten  months  in  Michigan  (principally  in  Howard 
and  vicinity)  ;  and  ten  years  in  Illinois  (chiefly  in  the  territo- 
ry now  covered  by  the  Illinois  and  Illinois  Northern  Yearly 
Meetings) . 

In  Michigan,  where  in  1834  there  was  only  one  Quarterly 
Meeting — the  Oakland — there  were  in  1844  two  Yearly 
Meetings — the  Michigan  and  West  Michigan, — with  eight 
Quarterly  Meetings,  forty-eight  churches  and  thirty  ministers, 
besides  whatever  may  be  represented  by  the  attempt  to  found 
a  seminary  at  Howard.  In  Illinois  there  was  not  a  known 
Free\vill  Baptist  when  the  Society  was  organized,  but  ten 
years  later  there  were  two  Yearly  Meetings — the  Illi- 
nois Northern  and  Illinois  Southern — seven  Quarterly  Meet- 
ings, forty-four  churches,  thirty  ministers  and  eight  hundred 
communicants.  In  New  York  a  church  had  been  organized 
at  Buffalo  by  Rev.  B.  F.  Nealy,  who  had  halted  there  on  his 
way  to  Michigan  in  1835,  which  was  distinct,  however,  from 
the  present  Buffalo  church ;  in  New  England  the  churches 
in  Boston  and  Portland  were  materially  helped  and  the 
Montville  Quarterly  Meeting  saved  from  extinction ;  and  in 
Nova  Scotia  one  Quarterly  Meeting — the  Barrington — had 
been  organized,  composed  of  three  churches,  five  ministers 
and  three  hundred  and  fifteen  communicants.  In  addition 
to  this,  missionary  work  was  undertaken  in  Ohio,  in  Indiana, 
and  in  Missouri,  whither  a  colony  went  from  the  Liberty 
church  in  Illinois  in  1S41.  A  church  was  also  organized 
in  Missouri  in  1842,  in  Davis   county,  under  the  Society's 


144  Centennial  Record. 

auspices,  which  in  1843  had  grown  to  two  Quarterly  Meet- 
ings, embracing  eleven  churches  and  eleven  ministers,  but 
owing  to  their  apologetic  attitude  on  the  slavery  question 
they  were  never  recognized  either  by  the  Society  or  by  the 
denomination.*  During  the  decade,  it  appears  that  about 
fifteen  hundred  persons  were  hopefully  converted  through 
the  Society's  agency,  one  hundred  churches  organized,  many 
others  revived  and  quickened  and  the  missionary  spirit 
greatly  develaped. 

Almost  at  the  threshold  of  its  second  decade  the  Society 
received  the  most  severe  blow  of  its  early  history  in  the 
death  of  Rev.  David  Marks,  which  occurred  Dec.  i,  1845. 
He  was  always  its  faithful  servant,  and  was  greatly  interested 
in  its  work  and  progress. 

Its  special  work  this  decade  was  in  aiding  feeble  churches, 
of  which  it  assisted  upwards  of  fifty,  among  them  being  the 
churches  in  Augusta,  Bath,  Portland,  Bangor,  Lewiston,  Saco 
and  Biddeford  in  Maine ;  Concord,  Portsmouth  and  Ray- 
mond in  New  Hampshire ;  Boston  and  So.  Boston,  Rox- 
bury  and  Lawrence  in  Mass. ;  Pawtucket  and  the  Third 
church  (now  Park  St.)  in  Providence,  R.  I. ;  the  churches 
in  New  York  city,  Buffalo,  Rochester  and  Phoenix  in  New 
York ;  Jackson,  Mich. ;  besides  Quarterly  Meetings  and 
other  local  interests,  which  were  either  brought  into  exis- 
tence or  saved  from  death  by  the  Society's  work.  The  re- 
ceipts for  the  decade  were  $19,249.06  against  $5,525.82  for 
the  preceding  ten  years,  and  with  this  money  an  average  of 
twenty  missionaries  yearly  was  employed,  whose  labor  was 
divided  in  about  the  ratio  of  two  thirds  for  New  England 
and  one  third  for  New  York  and  the  West. 

In  1846  Rev.  N.  W.  Bixby  went  to  Iowa  from  Vermont, 
and  began  missionary  work.      The  Freewill  Baptist  cause 


*ioth  Annual  Report,  p.  18. 


The  Home  Mission.  145 

there  owes  its  beginning  and  much  of  its  subsequent  prog- 
ress to  his  labors.  He  was  the  only  known  Freewill  Baptist 
in  the  State  in  1846,  but  at  the  close  of  the  decade  in  1854 
there  was  a  Yearly  Meeting  embracing  three  Quarterly 
Meetings,  thirteen  churches,  eight  ministers  and  about  one 
hundred  and  fifteen  communicants.  During  the  decade 
the  Michigan  Yearly  Meeting  increased  its  membership  about 
seventy-five  per  cent.,  and  the  cause  in  Illinois  and  Wiscon- 
sin was  equally  prosperous.  This  has  reference  only  to  the 
results  of  home  missionary  work. 

In  the  list  of  the  Society's  missionaries  for  1851  appears 
the  name  of  Rev.  Charles  G.  Ames,  as  pastor  of  the  church 
in  St.  Anthony,  Minn.  He  remained  pastor  of  the  church 
until  1856,  when  he  embraced  the  Unitarian  faith. 

In  1853  the  Society  undertook  the  support  of  a  missiona- 
ry among  the  colored  refugees  in  Canada,  but  after  eighteen 
months  the  work  was  given  into  the  hands  of  a  local  society 
which  was  much  better  equipped  for  performing  it. 

The  period  from  1854  to  1870  may  be  described  as  the 
most  interesting  in  the  history  of  the  Society.  It  embraced 
not  only  its  customary  work,  which  during  this  interval  as- 
sumed unusual  importance,  but  also  the  work  among  the 
fi-eed  slaves  of  the  South,  between  whom  and  their  friends  at 
the  North  the  barriers  had  been  beaten  down  by  the  shock 
of  war. 

At  the  anniversary  held  in  Maineville,  O.,  in  June,  1856, 
the  work  of  raising  a  permanent  fund  was  begun,  the  follow- 
ing persons  giving  their  notes  for  $100  each,  interest  to  be 
paid  annually,  as  a  nucleus  :  Rev.  Mark  Merrill,  of  Me. ;  J. 
W.  Winsor,  of  R.  I. ;  Revs.  Jeremiah  Baldwin  and  D.  M. 
Graham,  of  N.  Y. :  Rev.  C.  Dodge,  of  Pa. ;  E.  Barber,  W. 
Greeley,  O.  L.  Freeman  and  Rev.  D.  L.  Rice,  of  O. ;  J.  S. 
Palmer,  of  111.,  and  E.  C.  Clough,  of  Iowa.  The  fund  now 
amounts  to  about  $5,000. 


146  Centennial  Record. 

During  the  two  years  from  June  1856  to  June  1858,  in 
the  midst  of  prevailing  financial  depression,  the  receipts  had 
run  so  low  that  not  a  tenth  of  the  requests  for  aid  could  be 
granted,  and  the  Secretary,  in  his  Report  for  the  latter  year, 
comforts  the  friends  of  the  work  by  asking  them  to  reflect 
that  although  the  interest  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  which  they  had 
previously  aided,  had  failed,  and  although  hberal  appropria- 
tions had  been  made  to  the  church  in  New  York  city  while 
other  interests  were  suffering,  yet  about  $5,000  had  been 
given  to  our  Educational  work  by  a  member  of  the  former 
church  and  $10,000  by  a  member  of  the  latter,  which  would 
doubtless  never  have  been  given  but  for  the  influence  of  this 
Society. 

But  a  survey  of  the  field  shows  that  much  was  being  ac- 
complished even  in  the  midst  of  hard  times.  The  number 
of  missionaries  employed  ranged  from  nine  for  the  year  end- 
ed August  31,  1S59,  to  sixty-five  for  the  year  ended  August 
31,  1869,  and  during  this  last  year  fifty-eight  churches  were 
aided  by  appropriations,  and  five  hundred  and  sixty-three 
persons  were  reported  baptized  by  the  Society's  missiona- 
ries. We  find  Rev.  R.  Dunn  laboring  in  Iflinois  and  Wis- 
consin in  1854-5,  and  reporting  conversions  by  the  hundreds, 
the  churches  at  Hillsdale,  Chicago,  Cleveland,  Buffalo,  New 
York  city,  and  those  just  mentioned  in  New  Englarfd,  with 
the  addition  of  those  in  Brunswick,  Topsham,  Gardiner  and 
Dexter  in  Maine  either  receiving  aid  or  coming  to  a  condi- 
tion of  self-support  and  contributing  in  turn  to  the  help  of 
others.  The  single  church  in  Minnesota  had  rapidly  multi- 
plied and  grown  into  a  Yearly  Meeting  in  1853.  All  through 
the  West  the  seed  that  the  Society's  missionaries  had  sown  in 
previous  years  was  springing  up.  In  the  spring  of  1859, 
Rev.  L.  Given,  just  out  of  the  Theological  school,  began  the 
work  in  the  Aroostook  county,  in  Maine,  which  remains  a 
memorial  of  his   self-denying   toil.     In    1862-3    missionary 


The  Home  Mission.  147 

work  was  prosecuted  in  western  and  central  Pennsylvania, 
where  the  results  are  still  visible.  The  Institution  and 
church  at  Ridgeville,  Ind.,  were  founded  in  1869,  not  with- 
out home  Missionary  help,  and  some  effort  was  made  to 
develop  the  liberal  Baptist  element  in  the  South,  which 
the  results  of  the  war  had  disclosed  there.  During  this  pe- 
riod about  twenty  churches  were  organized,  not  including 
those  among  the  freedmen  in  the  South,  about  the  same 
number  of  meeting-houses  were  built,  and  2,500  persons 
were  hopefully  converted,  2,000  baptized  and  2,072  added 
to  the  churches. 

Death  had  been  busy.  Rev.  Ehas  Hutchins,  who  had 
been  an  influential  member  of  the  Society,  died  in  1859; 
Father  Phinney,  after  giving  40  years  of  his  life  to  mission- 
ary work,  and  Aaron  Buzzell  had  both  preceded  him  in  1855, 
and  several  missionary  pastors  had  died  later,  the  most 
promising  of  whom  was  Rev.  E.  M.  Tappan,  of  the  Lawrence 

church. 

The  Society  had  frequently  declared  its  uncomprom- 
ising opposition  to  slavery,  and  it  was  not  backward  in 
entering  the  new  field  which  the  war  opened  to  it.  At  its 
annuarmeeting  in  June,  1863,  Rev.  C.  C.  Leigh  appeared 
as  an  Agent  of  the  National  Freedmen's  Relief  Association, 
and  after  an  address  on  the  work  and  its  needs,  the  Society 
resolved  to  at  once  enter  the  field  in  co-operation  with  the 
Association.  Rev.  E.  Knowlton,  of  Me.,  was  immediately 
appointed  as  a  missionary  and  Agent  of  the  Society,  but  on 
account  of  illness  he  was  obliged  to  delay  his  departure 
for  the  South.  In  the  meantime  Rev.  S.  S.  Nickerson,  ofVt., 
was  appointed  to  the  work  and  proceeded  at  once  to  Roanoke 
Island,  S.  C,  one  of  the  places  of  rendezvous  for  colored  ref- 
ugees. He  arrived  in  Dec,  1863,  and  was  thus  the  Society's 
first  missionary  to  bear  the  word  of  life  to  this  long  oppress- 
ed  race.     The  work  was  vigorously  prosecuted.     Rev.   E. 


148  Centennial  Record. 

Knowlton  proceeded  to  Washington  in  January,  1864,  and 
having  procured  the  necessary  passports  visited  the  princi- 
pal gathering  places  of  the  colored  people  in  Eastern  Va. 
and  the  Carolinas,  and  on  March  2  7  of  that  year,  he  organ- 
ized the  first  colored  Freewill  Baptist  church  in  the  South, 
at  Beaufort,  S.  C.  The  history  of  the  church  is  brief  but  in- 
teresting. Two  days  after  its  organization  it  had  177  mem- 
bers, all  of  whom  had  been  slaves.  It  was  put  in  charge  of 
Rev.  Wm.  F,  Eaton  and  wife,  of  Me.,  and  the  Society  at 
once  began  to  collect  funds  in  the  North  to  build  it  a  meet- 
ing-house. The  money  was  soon  raised,  Rufus  Deering, 
Esq.,  of  Portland,  Me.,  took  the  contract  of  building  the 
house,  and  by  the  autumn  of  that  year  the  frame  had  been 
made  in  Portland,  shipped  thence  to  Hilton  Head,  and  erect- 
ed on  a  lot  of  land  at  Beaufort,  given  by  a  Capt.  Spring- 
er of  Mass.,  and  deeded  to  the  Society.  Some  of  the  young 
lady  students  at  New  Hampton,  N.  H.,  gave  a  Bible  for  the 
pulpit,  and  the  Washington  St.  church  in  Dover,  N.  H., 
gave  a  communion  set.  The  church  prospered  finely  for 
nearly  three  years,  when  the  terms  of  Pres.  Johnson's  recon- 
struction "  policy "  brought  back  the  Rebels  to  their  old 
haunts,  the  colored  people  were  scattered  and  the  church 
was  broken  up.  The  house  was  soon  after  sold,  but  there  is 
still  a  respectable  Free  Baptist  sentiment  in  that  region  as 
the  result  of  the  early  work. 

This  was  only  one  feature  of  the  Society's  operations  in 
the  South.  A  Committee  of  Western  brethren,  of  which 
Rev.  R.  Dunn  was  chairman  and  Rev.  A.  H.  Chase  Secreta- 
ry, was  appointed  to  co-operate  with  the  Society,  and  in  the 
year  1863-4  the  Society  and  the  Western  Committee  em- 
ployed one  General  Agent,  eight  missionaries  and  twelve 
teachers  who  began  work  among  the  freedmen  at  different 
pointsin  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  the  South-western  States. 

The  following  year,  1864-5,  the  Society  employed  forty- 


The  Home  Mission.  149 

six  missionaries  and  teachers,  who  labored  at  twenty-one 
different  stations  in  seven  Southern  States.  Sixteen  of  these 
teachers  went  out  under  the  auspices  of  the  Western  Com- 
mittee, and  during  the  year  there  were  many  hoi)eful  con- 
versions, five  churches  were  organized,  four  meeting-houses 
built  and  one  Quarterly  Meeting  organized. 

Four  missionaries  died  during  the  year :  Revs.  Edward 
Scott,  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  Stillman  Fuller,  of  Pa.,  Joseph 
A.  Shaw,  of  Dixmont,  Me.,  and  Miss  Abbie  M.  Church,  of 
Phillips,  Me.,  all  of  whom  were  faithful  and  devoted  labor- 
ers and  died  at  their  posts. 

But  the  period  of  reconstruction  was  coming  on,  and  its 
effects  were  not  favorable  to  free  missionary  work  among  the 
colored  people  at  the  South.  These  effects  were  felt  most 
severely  in  South  Carolina,  resulting  at  length  in  the  aban- 
donment of  the  whole  State,  a  step  that  was  taken  in  accord- 
ance with  the  advice  of  Revs.  L.  B.  Tasker  and  E.  A.  Stock- 
man, who  were  among  the  Society's  missionaries  there  in 
1865.  The  number  of  teachers  and  missionaries  employed 
by  the  Society  this  year,  in  the  Southern  work,  fell  to  thirty- 
three,  of  whom  eleven  were  sent  out  by  the  Western  Com- 
mittee ;  but  the  number  of  stations  was  greater,  aggregating 
twenty-five,  and  distributed  in  the  States  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  Virginias,  the  Carolinas  and  southern  Illinois. 

The  receipts  for  the  work  were  encouragingly  large.  At 
the  annual  meeting  in  1864  the  Secretary  had  asked  for 
$10,000  for  the  next  year, — a  large  sum  in  the  estimates  of  a 
people  whose  contributions  for  home  missionary  work  had 
for  thirty  years  averaged  only  about  $1,200  yearly.  But  the 
$10,000  was  contributed  and  more  besides.  At  the  annual 
meeting  in  1865  $16,000  was  called  for,  and  the  next  year's 
report  showed  that  this  also  had  been  raised,  and  over  $500 
additional. 

The  crowning  work  of  the  Society  in  the  South  was  about 


150  Centennial  Record. 

to  be  entered  upon.  In  the  summer  of  1865  the  Shenando- 
ah valley,  from  Harper's  Ferry  to  Winchester  in  W.  Va.,  had 
been  assigned  to  the  Society's  care  in  the  general  dividing 
up  of  the  territory  among  the  different  benevolent  organiza- 
tions, and  its  agent,  Rev.  N.  C.  Brackett,  began  at  once  to 
organize  schools  at  Harper's  Ferry  and  in  the  neighboring 
towns.  During  the  ensuing  year  he  superintended  the  in- 
struction of  about  two  thousand  five  hundred  colored  peo- 
ple, the  most  of  the  Society's  teachers  being  now  located  in 
this  valley. 

In  the  Secretary's  Report  for  1866  appears  this  item  : 

•'NORMAL  SCHOOL  FOR  THE  FREEDMEN. 
*'  Rev.  L.  Given,  who  labored  as  a  missionary  and  teacher  for 
some  3  months  in  the  Shenandoah  mission,  recommends  to  the 
Board  the  importance  of  taking  measures  immediately  for  the 
establishment  of  a  Normal  school  in  the  valley  for  the  Freed- 
men.  In  this  suggestion  Bro.  Brackett  heartily  concurs;  and 
the  Board  have  appointed  a  committee  to  take  the  subject  into 
consideration  and  report  on  the  same." 

So  far  as  this  Society  is  concerned,  that  seems  to  have  been 
the  beginning  of  our  present  educational  institution  at  Har- 
per's Ferry.  The  Committee  which  the  Secretary  mentions, 
and  of  which  Rev.  I.  D.  Stewart  was  chairman,  visited  the 
valley,  and  after  an  examination,  reported  in  favor  of  the 
proposed  school  and  of  Harper's  Ferry  as  its  location.* 

Rev.  A.  H.  Morrell  was  appointed  to  the  charge  of  the  mis- 
sionary operations  in  the  valley,  in  1867,  and  for  thirteen 
years  he  performed  efficient  and  faithful  service.  Rev.  N. 
C.  Brackett  was  made  superintendent  of  schools  the  same 
year,  and  had  under  his  care  twenty-one  teachers  who  had 
been  sent  out  by  the  Society.  The  Western  Committee  em- 
ployed twenty-eight  teachers  this  year  in  the  Cairo  mission. 


*For  further  details  see  paper  on  "  Educational  Institutions." 


The  Home-  Mission.  151 

During  the  next  year  (1867-8)  the  Western  Committee 
employed  twenty-three  teachers  and  missionaries,  but  owing 
to  the  efforts  made  in  the  East  to  meet  the  condition  on 
which  the  Storer  bequest  had  been  made,  only  thirteen 
teachers  were  sent  to  the  Shenandoah  valley ;  but  this  dim- 
inution was  partly  supplied  by  the  labors  of  seven  colored 
assistant  missionaries,  who  rendered  good  service  under  Mr. 
Morrell's  directions.  During  the  year  five  churches  and  one 
Quarterly  Meeting  were  organized  in  the  Valley,  and  sites 
for  meeting-houses  bought  in  Charlesto\vn,  Martinsburg, 
Winchester  and  Perr)'ville,  where  we  now  have  flourishing 
churches.  Rev.  J.  S.  Manning  had  been  appointed  to  the 
charge  of  the  Cairo  Mission,  where  a  Yearly  Meeting  was  or- 
ganized in  1868,  his  work  being  supplemented  by  the  school 
in  operation  at  Cairo  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  P.  C.  Talford. 

And  so  we  come  to  the  year  1870,  with  the  Normal 
School  at  Harper's  Ferry  full  to  overflo\\dng,  colored  men 
and  women,  lately  slaves,  already  going  out  to  teach  in  the 
adjoining  towns,  five  good  meeting-houses  built  and  as 
a  rule  paid  for,  eleven  ministers  preaching  the  Word,  and  a 
growing  church  membership.  The  estimated  value  of  prop- 
erty in  the  Southern  mission,  owned  by  the  Society  or  by 
organizations  related  to  it,  was  at  that  date  ;?44,625,  of 
which  $6,000  was  invested  in  the  Cairo  mission,  where  there 
were  twenty-seven  churches,  twenty-three  ministers,  twenty 
meeting-houses  and  three  thousand  church  members.  The 
Freedmen's  Bureau  had  appropriated  $3,000  to  the  Cairo 
mission  in  1869,  to  replace  the  school  building  which  had 
been  burned,  and  in  the  same  year  the  Western  Committee 
was  dissolved,  its  Secretary  closing  his  last  report  to  the  So- 
ciety as  follows  : 

"  The  brethren  in  the  West  have  generously  sustained  this 
[the  Cairo]  mission  for  years  past,  and  will  as  cheerfully 
sustain  it  in  years  to  come." 


152  Centcnfiial  Record. 

Ten  years  of  the  Society's  history  remain  to  be  consid- 
ered. It  will  be  most  natural  to  continue  the  record  of  its 
work  in  the  South  to  the  present  time.  Up  to  May  31, 
1862,  the  Treasurer  had  received  only  $64.65  to  be  used  in 
behalf  of  the  liberated  slaves,  but  during  the  next  six  years 
the  Society  received  and  expended  in  that  work  $71,683.50. 
About  $9,300  of  this  sum  was  raised  in  the  West  and  ex- 
pended in  the  Cairo  mission.  Up  to  the  present  year 
(1880)  the  Society  has  appropriated,  in  the  aggregate,  to  its 
work  among  the  Freedmen  about  $115,000,  of  which  sum 
about  $55,oco  has  been  expended  in  the  Shenandoah  val- 
ley, and  $16,725  in  the  Cairo  mission,  this  last  sum  having 
been  raised  principally  in  the  West.  The  school  has  been 
discontinued  at  Cairo,  but  the  missionary  work  has  been  ex- 
tended further  down  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  into  Kentucky 
and  Alabama,  and  there  are  now  in  that  Mission  three  Year- 
ly Meetings, — the  Southern  Illinois,  the  Kentucky  and  the 
Louisiana, — containing  in  all  seventy-one  churches,  seventy- 
nine  ordained  ministers,  twenty-five  licentiates  and  tliree 
thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty-three  communicants. 

The  mission  in  the  Shenandoah  valley  has  been  organized 
into  what  is  known  as  the  Virginia  Freewill  Baptist  Associa- 
tion, embracing  three  Quarterly  Meetings,  thirteen  churches, 
fourteen  ordained  ministers,  four  licentiates  and  nine  hun- 
dred and  forty-six  communicants.  It  is  in  a  vigorous  and 
hopeful  condition.  Its  meeting-house  and  parsonage  prop- 
erty is  valued  at  $18,550.  The  salary  of  the  Principal  of  the 
Normal  School,  and  also  that  of  the  superintending  mission- 
ary, are  annually  paid  from  the  Home  Mission  treasury. 

Taking  now  a  broader  view,  we  find  that  nearly  the  whole 
numerical  gain  of  the  denomination  during  the  last  twenty 
years  has  been  made  directly  through  the  Society's  agency. 
With  an  average  of  yearly  receipts  during  the  last  decade 
of  only  $5,000  (during  the  last  five  years  the  receipts  have 


The  Home  Mission.  153 

averaged  only  about  ;$3,ooo),  the  Society  has  aided  about 
fifty  different  churches  in  the  support  of  preaching,  from 
Maine  to  Minnesota,  and  helped  to  sustain  missionaries  ac- 
cording to  its  ability.  Among  the  churches  thus  aided  are 
several  in  Maine  and  New  Hampshire,  those  in  Lynn  and 
Boston,  Mass.,  the  Park,  Greenwich  and  Pond  streets  in 
Providence,  R.  I.,  the  churches  in  Cleveland  and  Spring- 
field, Ohio,  which  have  become  flourishing  interests,  and  the 
church  in  Chicago,  to  save  which  the  Society  used  its  ut- 
most effort  so  long  as  any  effort  could  avail. 

Under  an  arrangement  entered  into  by  all  our  Benevolent 
Societies  in  1876,  whereby  one  Treasurer  and  one  Financial 
Secretary  have  since  been  employed  for  all  of  them,  the  run- 
ning expenses  of  the  Home  Mission  Society  have  been 
somewhat  reduced. 

State  and  local  Societies  have  always  been  a  feature  of 
our  home  missionary  work.  Organized  at  first  by  encour". 
agement  of  the  parent  Society,  and  serving  as  auxiliaries  to 
it,  they  have  in  later  years  somewhat  embarrassed  its  opera- 
tions, so  that  at  its  annual  meeting  in  1879  the  Society  passed 
a  resolution  asking  the  General  Conference  to  adopt  such 
measures  as  would  result  either  in  the  discontinuance  of 
State  and  local  societies  or  in  bringing  them  into  closer  re- 
lations with  the  parent  Society. 

During  this  decade  death  removed  Brethren  Knowlton, 
Day,  Tasker  and  John  Stevens,  all  active  friends  of  the  So- 
ciety and  closely  identified  with  its  work  and  progress. 

An  exact  statement  of  the  amount  of  money  expended  in 
home  missionary  work  during  the  Society's  existence  would 
be  impossible.  The  total  receipts  into  the  Treasury  up  to 
Jan.  I,  1880,  were  $214,343.90.  Included  in  this  sum  is 
$13,500  donated  by  the  Printing  Establishment,  and  about 
$33,000  in  legacies.  At  least  $150,000  has  been  contribu- 
ted by  individuals  and  the  churches.     But  this  estimate  does 


154  Centennial  Record. 

not  include  the  sums  raised  and  expended  by  State  and  lo- 
cal societies,  which  must  aggregate  many  thousands  of  dol- 
lars. 

The  Society  has  always  aimed  at  doing  its  work  on  a  cash 
basis,  meaning  never  to  incur  debts ;  but  in  pursuing  this 
line  of  policy  it  can  answer  only  a  small  proportion  of  the 
appeals  for  aid. 

The  economy  and  efficiency  with  which  its  affairs  have 
been  managed  have  been  largely  due  to  its  officers,  and  par- 
ticularly to  its  Executive  Committee.  A  full  Hst  of  these 
officers  would  be  impracticable.  The  first  President  was 
Rev.  S.  B.  Dyer,  who  held  the  office  five  years.  Rev.  A. 
Caverno  was  the  first  Recording  Secretary,  and  he  also  con- 
tinued five  years  in  office.  Rev.  David  Marks  was  the  first 
Corresponding  Secretary,  but  for  one  year  only.  Wm.  Bun- 
succeeded  him,  and  was  himself  succeeded  after  one  year 
by  Rev.  Enoch  Mack,  who  held  the  office  three  years  (1836 
-9).  Rev.  Silas  Curtis  was  chosen  Corresponding  Secretary 
in  1839,  and  remained  in  office  thirty  consecutive  years, 
when  he  resigned,  and  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Ball  was  elected  to  the 
vacancy.  He  held  the  office  a  little  more  than  a  year, 
when  he  resigned,  and  Rev.  Silas  Curtis  was  reappointed. 
He  again  resigned  in  1871,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  A. 
H.  Chase,  who  held  office  until  the  annual  meeting  in  1875. 
During  his  term  of  office  a  magazine — The  Evangelist — de- 
voted to  the  interests  of  the  Society,  was  published  under  its 
auspices,  the  Secretary  serving  as  its  editor.  Mr.  Chase 
was  succeeded  by  Rev,  J.  S.  Burgess,  who  held  the  office 
two  years,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the  present  Secretary, 
Rev.  A.  L.  Gerrish. 

From  its  organization  until  the  year  1866  the  Society  had 
but  one  Treasurer — Wm.  Burr,  Esq.,  of  hallowed  memory. 
At  the  annual  meeting  in  June  of  that  year  he  resigned,  so 
that,  as  he  said,  he  might  have  time  to  care  for  the  interests 


The  Home  Mission.  155 

of  his  soul.  His  death  the  following  November  showed  how 
nearly  to  the  brim  he  had  filled  his  earthly  life  with  earnest 
work.     God  takes  care  of  the  souls  of  such  men. 

Rev.  Silas  Curtis  was  elected  to  the  vacant  treasurership, 
and  although  he  presented  his  resignation  in  1877,  and 
urged  its  acceptance,  he  has  nevertheless  been  kept  in  of- 
fice until  the  present  time. 

We  have  thus  outlined  the  history  of  the  Society  for  a  pe- 
riod of  forty-six  years.  To  the  good  God  and  the  brethren 
we  commend  its  future.  For  the  sake  of  our  denomination, 
for  the  sake  of  our  country,  and  for  the  sake  of  Christianity, 
let  the  Society  receive  the  support  to  which  its  opportuni- 
ties entitle  it,  that  it  may  do  its  part  in  overcoming  the 
thronging  foes  of  the  Republic  and  of  Religion.  As  we 
said  in  the  beginning  of  this  paper,  our  rise  and  early  prog- 
ress were  due  to  the  missionary  and  evangelical  type  of  la- 
bor. Almost  our  whole  numerical  gain  during  the  last 
twenty  years  has  come  through  the  work  of  this  Society. 
Can  we  reasonably  doubt  that  our  future  as  a  Christian  peo- 
ple is  to  be  intimately  connected  with  this  same  Society's 
work  ? 


EDUCATIONAL  WORK. 


In  presenting  the  educational  work  of  this  denomination 
we  repeat  history  whose  first  Hnes  record  the  significant  la- 
bors of  many  here  to-day. 

Although  we  celebrate  our  centennial  as  a  denomination, 
the  birth  of  our  Education  Society  was  only  forty-one  years 
ago,  and  the  beginning  of  systematic  theological  education 
one  year  later. 

Prejudice  against  an  educated  ministry  and  education  for 
the  ministry,  largely  predominated  during  the  first  sixty  years 
of  our  existence,  and  for  along  time  previous  to  1840,  we 
had  been  losing  from  our  ranks  many  ministers  of  piety  and 
promise,  on  account  of  our  position  on  this  question  of  ed- 
ucation. Enterprising  laymen  in  sympathy  with  us  on 
other  points  refused  to  join  us  because  of  our  intellectual  de- 
ficiencies and  our  neglect  of  education  and  general  improve- 
ment. 

Ministers  were  embarrassed  by  being  compelled  to  engage 
in  trade  or  to  work  as  day  laborers  on  the  farm,  or  to  culti- 
vate, as  best  they  might,  the  scanty  acres  they  chanced  to  pos- 
sess. Their  temporal  wants  were  neglected  by  the  churches, 
and  their  families  were  often  reduced  to  absolute  suffering. 
To  say  that  the  ministry  were  to  blame  for  such  a  condition 
of  things,  on  account  of  fear  of  the  charge  of  worldliness  and 
a  mercenary  spirit,  would  be  true,  but  this  does  not  justi- 


Educational   Work.  jey 

fy  the  churches  in  that  painful  neglect  which  generally  pre- 
vailed. 

Many  felt  that  God  called  them  to  preach,  but  not 
without  calling  them  to  make  suitable  intellectual  prepara- 
tion. They  struggled  long  with  their  sense  of  deficiencies 
and  mental  unfitness,  but  received  no  encouragement,  ei- 
ther by  word  or  offer  of  pecuniary  assistance  from  those  who 
ought  to  have  rendered  help  and  cheer.  If  they  persevered 
in  looking  forward  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  they  met 
further  discouragements  in  the  absence  of  facilities  among  us 
for  education.  It  was  not  strange,  therefore,  that  not  a  few 
attempted  to  banish  their  convictions  of  duty  by  attention  to 
business,  and  that  some  entered  the  schools  and  the  fellow- 
ship of  other  denominations. 

This  condition  arrested  the  attention  of  some  of  the  most 
intelligent  and  active  of  the  ministry  as  early  as  the  close 
of  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century,  and  for  the  next 
fifteen  years  many  faithful  ministers  groaned  in  spirit,  wept 
and  prayed,  with  but  little  prospect  of  relief.     They  saw  the 
increase  of  intelligence  in  society  at  large,  and  no  corres- 
ponding efforts  among  Free  Baptists  to  keep  up  with  it  or  to 
avail  themselves  of  it  for  improvement  of  either  the  ministry 
or  the  laity.     Prior  to  1840,  we  had  few  churches  in  cities 
and  large  villages,  and  {q.\\  men  qualified  to  occupy  such 
positions.     The  principles  of  the  denomination  were  inad- 
equately understood  and  feebly  presented,  so  that  we  were 
often  misrepresented  and  caricatured ;  designing  men,  and 
imposters,  represented  their  gross  notions  as  those  of  Free 
Baptists  without  fear  of  exposure.     The  spirit  and  practice 
of  the  fathers,  Randall,  Tingley,  Stinchfield  and  others,  were 
not  appreciated  nor  understood  generally  by  our  ministry. 
Those  men  were  not  opposed  to  learning  in  the  ministry, 
but  they  resisted  the  idea  that  learning  was  a  sufficient  quali- 
fication for  the  ministry,  or  any  substitute  for  the  grace  of 


158  Centennial  Record. 

God  in  the  heart.  They  were  accustomed  to  hold  ministers' 
conferences,  at  which  the  younger  preachers  received  in- 
struction from  those  quaUfied  to  teach.  These  were  schools 
of  the  most  valuable  kind,  where  doctrines  and  methods  of 
preaching  were  discussed  and  plans  for  efficiency  adopted. 
So  that,  under  mistake  as  to  the  real  position  of  the  fathers 
on  the  subject  of  education,  our  ministry  failed  to  make,  in 
the  generation  succeeding  Randall  and  Tingley,  improve- 
ment at  all  equal  to  that  of  the  earliest  ministers  of  the  de- 
nomination. Indeed,  too  many  gloried  in  their  ignorance, 
and  boasted  of  their  lack  of  desire  to  learn. 

In  the  autumn  of  1S39  four  ministers  *  met  at  Farmington, 
Me.,  and  after  prayerful  deliberation,  determined  to  pre- 
pare a  call  for  an  educational  convention,  and  send  it  to 
ministers  in  different  parts  of  the  denomination  for  signa- 
tures. In  December  following,  the  call  was  published  in 
"The  Morning  Star,"  signed  by  forty-six  ministers  and  lay- 
men who  had  given  the  matter  of  ministerial  education  se- 
rious consideration,  and  deeply  felt  and  deplored  the  lack 
of  facilities  for  training  young  men  for  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry.    The  call  was  as  follows  : 

"  The  undersigned,  considering  the  extensive  field  spread 
out  before  us,  in  our  beloved  connection,  the  great  destitu- 
tion of  the  means  of  grace  that  exists  among  us,  and  the 
worth  of  undying  souls ;  feeling  the  importance  of  a  correct 
understanding  of  the  Scriptures,  and  of  ability  rightly  to  di- 
vide the  word  of  truth,  in  those  who  are  set  to  watch  the  in- 
terests of  Zion ;  and  being  desirous  of  furnishing  the  means 
of  improvement  in  a  knowledge  of  divine  things  to  all  with- 
in our  reach  :  Therefore,  we  extend  a  cordial  invitation  and 
request  to  all  the  preachers  and  brethren,  friendly  to  the 
objects  herein  named,  to  meet  in  Convention  at  Acton,  Me., 


■'•^John  Chancy,  Silas  Curtis,  D.  Waterman,  J.  J.  Butler. 


Educational   Work. 


159 


Jan.  15,  1840,  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  to  adopt  measures  for 
providing  the  means  of  Biblical  instruction  for  pious  young 
men  who  promise  usefulness  to  the  church." 

The  four  ministers  whose  interest  resulted  in  this  call  are 
present  to-day. 

Seventy-six  ministers  and  prominent  laymen  responded  to 
the  call  and  met  at  the  time  indicated. 

Seventeen  resolutions  were  discussed  at  considerable 
length  and  adopted ;  these  form  the  basis  on  which  the 
Education  Society  was  established,  and  set  forth  the  spirit  of 
the  denomination  of  that  time  and  substantially  of  the  pres- 
ent day  on  the  subject  of  ministerial  education. 

Among  those  resolutions  are  the  following  : 

(i)  That  no  man,  whatever  may  be  his  natural  or  ac- 
quired attainments,  can  preach  the  gospel,  unless  he  have 
been  especially  called  of  God. 

(2)  That  the  Scriptures,  accompanied  by  the  aid  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  are  the  only  source  whence  the  servant  of  God 
can  derive  that  instruction  which  is  requisite  to  qualify  him 
for  teaching  the  great  truths  of  religion. 

(3)  It  is  indispensably  necessary  for  one  who  is  about 
to  teach  others,  first  to  understand  the  subject  clearly  him- 
self. 

(14)  That  while  we  are  making  greater  efforts  for  an  in- 
crease of  knowledge  in  the  sciences  and  the  Scriptures, 
there  is  great  danger  of  losing  that  spirituality  and  warmth 
of  heart  so  conspicuous  in  our  fathers,  and  of  becoming 
cold  and  lifeless  in  our  communications,  against  which  the 
eternal  welfare  of  souls  and  the  awful  responsibilities  of  the 
gospel  require  us  studiously  to  guard. 

At  the  close  of  the  Convention  an  Education  Society  was 
organized.  In  the  Constitution  adopted,  it  was  specified 
that  the  Board  of  directors  shall  have  a  general  regard  for 
the  interests  of  Education  in  the  denomination  and  shall 
take  such  measures  as  they  may  deem  proper  to  promote 
these  interests.  After  the  Society  was  organized,  a  subscrip- 
tion of  $300  was  made,  and  it  was  decided  to  establish  a 


i6o  Centennial  Record. 

library  department  in  connection  with  Parsonsfield  seminary 
on  the  I  St.  of  September  following.  A  library  of  700  vols, 
was  purchased,  at  an  expense  of  ^600. 

Rev.  M.  M.  Smart  was  appointed  principal  of  the  Library 
Department,  so  called ;  and  in  the  following  spring  lectures 
were  delivered  by  Revs.  Z.  Jordan,  Silas  Curtis  and  Martin 
Cheney. 

The  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Education  Society  was  held 
at  South  Parsonsfield,  Me.,  Jan.  13  and  14,  1841.  Samuel 
Whitney  was  President ;  J.  J.  Butler,  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary ;  Silas  Curtis,  Recording  Secretary ;  J.  M.  Harper,  Treas- 
urer, and  Wm.  Burr,  Assistant  Treasurer. 

The  work  of  the  Society  was  declared  to  be  especially  the 
providing  of  means  for  the  intellectual  and  moral  improvement 
of  young  preachers.  Churches  were  recommended  to  estab- 
lish quarterly  concerts  of  prayer  for  the  ministry,  "  that  God 
would  raise  up  more  laborers."  A  collection  amounting  to 
$70  was  taken. 

The  name  of  the  department  was  changed  to  that  of  "  Bib- 
lical Department."  An  elaborate  and  valuable  report,  which 
is  pleasant  and  profitable  reading  after  the  lapse  of  thirty- 
nine  years,  was  presented  by  the  Corresponding  Secretary  on 
the  value  and  need  of  ministerial  education. 

The  friends  of  the  Society  were  greatly  encouraged  by  the 
endorsement  of  their  aims  and  plans  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence atTopsham  in  the  autumn  of  1841. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  second  year  of  its  existence  the 
department  became  much  embarrassed  for  want  of  funds,  and 
the  principal  was  infomied  that  the  Society  could  not  be  re- 
sponsible for  the  expenses  of  the  fall  term.  In  September, 
1842,  it  was  no  longer  a  department  of  Parsonsfield  seminary, 
being  removed  to  Dracut,  Mass.,  as  an  independent  Biblical 
school,  the  principal  becoming  personally  responsible  for  the 
expenses   of  the  term.     Up  to  this  time  the  pecuniary  ne- 


Educatioval   Work.  i6i 

cessities  had  been  met  by  a  few  individuals — mostly  poor  min- 
isters. The  denomination  had  done  litde  except  to  pass  ex- 
cellent resolutions  in  favor  of  the  school  and  the  work  of  the 
Society. 

Nevertheless  the  school  had  prospered.  During  the  first 
two  years  forty-three  young  men  had  been  in  attendance, 
some  of  them  the  entire  period. 

The  third  year,  at  Dracut,  opened  with  twenty-five  students 
who  were  obliged  "  to  hire  an  establishment  for  their  accom- 
modation." But  in  March,  1843,  the  Society  again  assumed 
support  of  the  school,  and  in  November,  1844,  amid  much 
enthusiasm  and  great  interest  both  at  the  East  and  the  West, 
removed  it  to  Whitestown,  N.  Y.,  employing  M.  M.  Smart 
and  J.  J.  Butler  as  teachers.  The  number  of  students  this 
year  was  40 ;  in  the  following  year  55  were  in  attendance. 

The  Education  Society  was  incorporated  by  act  of  the 
New  Hampshire  Legislature  in  1846.  In  1849  but  one 
teacher,  J.  J.  Butler,  was  employed.  After  twelve  years'  exist- 
ence (1852),  the  Corresponding  Secretary  is  compelled  to 
record,  "  cold  neglect  and  cruel  indifference  at  the  hands  of 
many."  There  was  at  that  time  little  interest  in  the  school, 
its  finances  were  embarrassed,  and  the  attendance  lamentably 
small. 

The  following  year  (1853),  new  interest  was  awakened 
and  new  vigor  infused  into  the  working  of  the  Society.  A 
subscription  of  $5,000  was  filled,  Jotham  Parsons  taking 
1^2,500.  Arrangements  were  completed  for  transferring  the 
school  to  New  Hampton,  and  a  call  for  $20,000  to  be  added 
to  the  permanent  fund  met  an  encouraging  response. 

For  t\venty-five  years  the  New  Hampton  Institution  had 
been  a  flourishing  school  under  the  patronage  of  the  Baptists. 
When  they  removed  their  interest  to  another  location,  the 
friends  of  education  in  New  Hampton  proposed  to  Free 
Baptists  to  unite  with  them  in  the  re-establishment  of  the 


1 62  Centennial  Record. 

school.  Fifteen  thousand  dollars  were  raised  and  the  school 
was  opened  in  the  summer  of  1853.  Its  prosperity,  flatter- 
ing at  the  outset,  has  continued  without  abatement. 

In  connection  with  the  session  of  the  General  Conference 
at  Fairport  in  1853,  there  was  an  earnest  discussion  over  the 
proposal  to  remove  the  Theological  School  to  New  Hampton. 
The  debate  occupied  portions  of  several  days,  ending  with  an 
agreement,  in  which  all  parts  of  the  denomination  harmonious- 
ly joined,  that  the  school  should  be  removed.  It  became  es- 
tablished in  the  autumn  of  1854  at  New  Hampton,  J.  J.  But- 
ler and  J.  Fullonton,  teachers. 

For  the  first  time  the  Society,  tlirough  the  liberality  of 
many  friends,  especially  that  of  Jotham  Parsons,  extended 
pecuniary  aid  in  the  year  1854-5,  to  members  of  the  school. 
Fifteen  were  aided  to  the  amount  of  ^3  75 .  The  number  of  stu- 
dents in  attendance  the  first  year  at  New  Hampton  was  twenty- 
one  ;  in  the  year  following,  there  were  seventeen.  In  his  report 
for  the  latter  year  (1856),  the  Corresponding  Secretary  says  : 
"  The  prosperity  of  the  school  is  not  necessarily  attached  to 
any  mere  place.  The  attendance  is  not  what  we  expected 
and  hoped  it  would  be."  The  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Society  called  upon  the  young  men  and  the  denomination  to 
sustain  the  school.  But  while  the  literary  department  flour- 
ished, the  Theological  School  only  maintained  its  limited 
numbers,  varying  from  twelve,  the*  lowest  number  in  1862-3, 
to  twenty-six,  the  highest  in  1859-60.  In  1859,  the  erection 
of  a  new  building  for  the  use  of  the  Theological  School  be- 
gan to  be  agitated  and  was  discussed  for  several  years  with- 
out any  practical  result. 

At  length,  in  1867,  there  seemed  to  be  a  hopeful  opening  for 
the  location  of  the  School  at  Haverhill,  Mass.  A  site  was  select- 
ed and  plans  were  adopted,  and  a  considerable  subscription  for 
erecting  buildings  secured,  but  after  several  months  of  planning 
the  project   was  abandoned  in  the   following  year.     StiU  the 


Educational   Work.  163 

question  of  removal  was  agitated,  and  after  the  consideration  of 
offers  from  several  other  sources,  the  proposal  of  Bates  col- 
lege to  accommodate  the  school  wilh  a  fine  building  and 
provide  for  three  additional  professors,  was  accepted  and 
since  1870  it  has  been  a  department  of  the  college.  The 
average  number  of  students  has  been  less  than  twenty-five. 
The  Professors  at  the  present  time  are  Rev,  John  Fullonton, 
D.  D.,  Rev.  James  A.  Howe,  d.  d.,  Rev.  B.  F.  Hayes,  d. 
D.,  and  JVIr.  Thomas  H.  Rich. 

We  will  only  briefly  refer  here  to  the  general  educational 
work  of  the  denomination  in  which  the  Education  Society 
has  been  more  or  less  intimately  concerned.  The  history  of 
our  institutions  of  learning  will  be  presented  by  another 
wTiter  to  whom  that  task  has  been  specifically  assigned. 

We  began,  denominationally,  the  work  of  education  at 
Parsonsfield,  where  the  first  academy  was  established  in 
1832,  with  Hosea  Quinby  as  principal.  Academies  sprang 
up  and  flourished,  and  general  education  was  freely  provided 
for,  especially  in  the  years  1840-50.  This  was  a  period  of 
rapid  denominational  growth;  our  membership  increasing 
from  forty  thousand  to  sixty  thousand. 

Twenty-four  years  from  the  planting  of  Parsonsfield  Semi- 
nary, in  the  year  1856,  there  had  been  ^220,000  invested  in 
the  various  grades  of  educational  institutions ;  and  at  the 
present  day  more  than  one  million  dollars  have  been  raised 
for  educational  purposes,  in  connection  with  about  twenty 
seminaries  and  academies  in  various  States,  nearly  all  of 
which  are  now  in  a  prosperous  condition. 

A  college  was  opened  at  Spring  Arbor,  Mich.,  in  1844, 
amid  circumstances  that  read  with  the  interest  of  romance, 
accompanied  with  a  heroism  and  devotion  on  the  part  of  its 
first  principal  and  founders  full  of  inspiration.  Nov.  7,  1855, 
it  was  removed  to  Hillsdale  and  from  that  time  has  been 
steadily  gaining  in  strength  and  influence  in  its  several  de- 


164  Centennial  Rcco'd. 

partments  of  Preparatory,  Collegiate  and  Theological  work, 
and  is  rendering  incalculable  service  to  the  churches  of  the 
West. 

Maine  State  Seminary,  opened  in  1857,  became  Bates 
college  in  1863,  and  to-day  is  a  great  educational  power 
among  us.  New  England  fittingly  and  necessarily  looks  to 
this  college,  as  a  center  of  helpful  influences  without  which 
our  prosperity  must  be  vitally  hindered.  The  college  calls 
for  both  pecuniary  and  spiritual  help — a  large  place  in  the 
hearts  and  benefactions  of  our  membership. 

Our  schools  and  colleges  must  be  places  where  godliness 
shall  be  enthroned  and  promoted ;  whence  hope,  light  and 
strength  may  go  out  to  the  church  and  the  world.  We  are 
not  wise  in  supporting  them  simply  as  literary  institutions, 
we  must  labor  and  pray  that  their  graduates  may  be  a  posi- 
tive Christian  force  in  the  world.  Our  hope  and  success  for 
the  century  upon  which  we  have  just  entered  depend  upon 
the  manner  and  spirit  with  which  we  solve  this  question 
of  education.  We  must  insist  upon  such  an  education  as 
shall  make  citizens  of  usefulness  and  piety ;  uniting  culture 
of  intellect  with  spiritual  growth  and  power.  We  want, 
America  wants,  the  world  wants  only  consecrated  men 
and  women  who  shall  relieve  its  woes  and  bring  peace  and 
cheer. 

Finally,  what  has  been  the  work  and  mission  of  this  Edu- 
cation Society? 

It  has  wrought  a  great  change  in  the  minds  of  our  people 
on  the  subject  of  ministerial  education,  and  by  promoting 
that  education  it  has  removed  one  of  the  most  serious  hin- 
drances to  our  prosperity.  It  was  once  said  by  opposers  to 
an  educated  ministry  that  "  if  a  young  man  had  but  the 
smell  of  Whitestown  upon  his  garments,  that  would  be 
enough  to  bring  the  curse  of  God  upon  all  his  efforts  to  save 
sinners." 


Educational   Work.  165 

It  has  raised  for  theological  education  $84,000,  besides 
the  income  of  its  invested  funds,  which  amounts  to  $56,000 
more.  It  has  furnished  instruction  to  nearly  four  hundred 
young  men  in  preparation  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  more 
than  one  hundred  of  whom  have  graduated  from  the  regular 
course  in  theological  schools.  A  large  proportion  of  all  the 
students  have  received  pecuniary  aid  from  the  funds  of  the 
Society.  The  present  number  preparing  for  the  ministry 
in  our  various  institutions  is  about  ninety. 

The  Society  has  expended  its  energies  chiefly  in  two  di- 
rections :  the  raising  of  funds  to  furnish  instruction  in  theo- 
logical schools,  and  the  giving  of  pecuniary  assistance  to 
young  men  preparing  for  the  ministry. 

As  we  read  with  amazement  the  expressions  of  pain  used 
by  those  who,  as  instructors  in  our  theological  school  or  as 
lovers  of  the  prosperity  of  Zion,  have  poured  out  their  souls 
over  the  needs  of  the  Seminary  and  the  destitution  of  the 
churches,  we  are  forced  to  exclaim,  again  and  again,  "  Oh, 
men,  great  is  your  faith,  that  with  such  fainting  hearts  ye  can 
still  be  pursuing  !"  How  often  their  hearts  sank,  but  how  often 
comes  the  record  of  their  hope,  till  we  are  are  compelled  to 
say :  these  men  are  of  no  common  mold  and  though  they 
"  die  without  the  sight,"  yet  their  heavenly  Canaan  must  be 
glorious  beyond  that  of  common  men. 

Let  our  young  men  imitate  the  zeal  and  devotion  of  the  fa- 
thers of  the  Free  Baptist  ministry ;  let  them  cultivate  similar 
gifts  of  persuasion  and  emulate  their  self-denials.  Let  the 
fathers  now  in  the  ministry  feel  toward  the  rising  ministry, 
with  its  superior  advantages  and  attainments,  as  one  of  them 
once  said  before  this  Society  :  "  I  can  not  die  in  peace  until 
I  have  done  something  for  the  rising  ministry.  I  care  not 
how  much  my  young  brethren  go  before  me  in  intelligence, 
usefulness  and  hohness.  The  farther  the  better.  Even  if 
their  light  as  far  surpasses  mine  as  the  sun   outshines  the 


1 66  Centennial  Record. 

moon  and  twinkling  stars,  it  will  illuminate  my  closing  days, 
and  shed  a  welcome  radiance  around  my  dying  bed." 

Let  our  brethren,  old  and  young,  take  such  positions  as  we 
have  indicated,  and  our  future  ^^^ll  show  more  signal  triumphs 
than  we  have  gained  in  the  past,  for  in  it  will  be  felt,  as  never 
before,  the  power  of  consecrated  talent  and  zeal  according 
to  knowledge. 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  WORK. 


No  historic  statement  of  the  Freewill  Baptist  denomina- 
tion would  be  complete  without  a  report  of  its  Sunday-school 
organization  and  work.  From  small  beginning  and  recent 
date  the  Sunday-school  has  become  a  general  and  powerful 
auxiliary  to  Christian  denominations  in  their  every  depart- 
ment of  interest  and  labor.  Imparting  Bible  instruction, 
infusing  moral  sentiment,  imposing  wholesome  restraint 
upon  evil  tendencies,  inspiring  to  nobleness  of  character 
and  action,  and  doing  all  these  at  the  most  favorable 
period  of  life,  and  upon  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  juvenile 
population  of  our  country  and  the  world,  it  has  come  to  be 
a  power  for  good,  a  vital  and  vitalizing  moral  force,  second 
only  to  that  of  the  church  itself;  a  fact  evinced  by  the  man- 
ifest superiority  of  churches  conducting  well-regulated  Sun- 
day-schools and  by  the  very  large  proportion  of  accessions  to 
the  church  and  to  the  ministry  from  this  source.  Who  can 
estimate  the  power  of  an  institution  having  a  membership  of 
neariy  or  quite  eight  million  in  the  United  States  alone,  and 
of  neariy  an  equal  number  in  other  countries,  all  devoted  to 
the  study  and  teaching  of  God's  word? 

The  relation  of  the  Sunday-school  to  the  interests  of  the 
State  is  hardly  less  vital  than  to  the  Church,  furnishing  as  it 
does,  and  as  it  is  adapted  to  doing,  besides  no  little  general 
intelligence,  the  moral  and  most  essential  condition  to  the 
success  and  perpetuity  of  civil  government. 


l68  Centennial  Record. 

Considering  the  importance  and  the  simplicity  of  the  Sun- 
day-school, it  is  a  marvel  that  its  origin  was  of  so  recent  date. 
Was  the  world,  until  so  late  a  period,  unprepared  to  appre- 
ciate it?  Was  the  Church  too  much  occupied  with  doctri- 
nal discussion,  having  meat,  but  without  the  milk  of  the 
Word  requisite  to  the  nurture  and  growth  of  the  juvenile  in- 
stitution ?  God  be  thanked  that,  at  length,  in  due  time  may 
we  not  say,  by  one  general  inspiration,  good  men  in  every 
part  of  Christendom  conceived  and  executed,  in  one  form  or 
another,  the  idea  of  systematic  effort  to  bring  all  the  young 
children  to  Christ  "  that  He  might  lay  His  hands  upon  and 
bless  them." 

The  idea  and  the  precept  to  religiously  educate  the  young 
is  as  ancient  as  Moses,  as  ancient  as  Adam  and  Eve,  who  so 
thoroughly  drilled  their  children  to  the  practice  of  religion 
that  Abel  would  die  rather  than  compromise  his  faith,  and 
Cain,  the  murderer,  even,  by  force  of  his  education  made  of- 
fering to  God.  The  Jews  taught  the  Scriptures  diligently  to 
their  children.  Timothy,  by  the  faithfulness  of  his  grand- 
mother Lois  and  his  mother  Eunice,  "  knew  the  Holy  Script- 
ures from  a  child."  The  early  Christians  are  said  to  have 
so  thoroughly  indoctrinated  their  famiUes  that  their  young 
children  are  said  to  have  often  been  more  than  a  match,  in 
the  Scriptures,  for  their  persecuting  priestly  inquisitors. 

Of  the  origin  of  the  modern  Sunday-school,  both  as  to 
date  and  agency,  it  becomes  us  to  speak  with  caution. 
Representatives  from  every  part  of  Christendom  have  just 
met  in  London  (June  28  to  July  3,  1880)  to  celebrate 
what  they  are  pleased  to  call  the  one  hundredth  anniversary 
of  the  origin  of  Sunday-schools  by  Robert  Raikes.  The  evi- 
dence is,  however,  that  Sunday-schools  existed  in  Italy  cen- 
turies before  the  time  of  Raikes  ;  that  two  hundred  years  be- 
fore, in  his  own  country,  a  rubric  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayers  gave  directions  for  Sunday  exercises  for  children  in 


^  Sunday-school   Work.  169 

the  Catechisms ;  that  Luther  established  Sunday-schools  for 
children  in  Germany,  and  Knox  in  Scotland ;  that  early  in 
the  history  of  New  England,  weekly  exercises  in  the  Script- 
ures and  Catechisms  were  given  to  children,  and  that  John 
Wesley  instituted  Sunday-schools  in  Savannah  as  early  as  in 
1737.  The  honor  of  antedating  Raikes  in  the  modern  type 
of  the  Sunday-school  is  claimed  for  a  Mrs.  Lake,  of  Marietta, 
Ohio,  who  instituted  a  Sunday-school  of  the  strictly  religious 
type,  in  the  government  forts  of  that  place  in  the  year  1791. 

It  is  generally  conceded,  however,  that  Mr.  Raikes  so  em- 
phasized the  idea  of  giving  Sunday  instruction  to  children, 
so  systematized  the  work,  and  so  aroused  the  public  mind 
to  this  matter  that  he,  really,  seems  to  have  opened  the 
Sunday-school  era.  In  nine  years  after,  in  his  own  country 
alone  the  Sunday-school  had  grown  to  a  membership  of 
three  hundred  thousand,  and  in  a  single  century,  in  Christen- 
dom, it  has  grown  to  a  membership  of  nearly  or  quite  thir- 
teen million. 

It  has  seemed  necessary  to  give  a  brief  outline  of  the 
Sunday-school  work  in  general  as  an  introdution  to  what  we 
have  to  say  of  the  Sunday-schools  of  the  Freewill  Baptist  de- 
nomination. Historic  facts  relating  to  the  Sunday-school 
among  us  are  exceedingly  meager,  enforcing  the  necessity  of 
greater  care  in  working  up  the  records  of  the  denomination, 
from  time  to  time,  in  its  every  department  of  work.  Free- 
will Baptists  are  not  alone  in  this  defect. 

Freewill  Baptists  originated  in  the  United  States  when 
Sunday-schools  were  little  known.  A  few  had  been  institut- 
ed as  we  have  said  in  New  England  and  Pennsylvania  as 
early  as  in  1658  to  1660  and  a  little  later,  and  by  Wesley  in 
1737,  but  it  was  not  until  the  second  decade  of  the  present 
century  that  Sunday-schools  existed  in  any  considerable 
numbers.  For  a  long  time  many  objections  were  urged  by 
people  good  and  worthy  no  doubt,  and  the  progress  was 


I/O  Centennial  Record. 

slow.  It  was  "  a  new  institution,  an  experiment,  and  its 
adoption  might  prove  a  dangerous  precedent."  It  was  "  a 
human  invention  and  might  not  harmonize  well  with  the 
fore-ordained  plan  for  saving  the  elect."  Freewill  Baptists 
had  their  objections  :  Existing  Sunday-schools  "  were  main- 
ly sectarian  and  taught  the  Catechism,"  and  Freewill  Bap- 
tists then,  as  since,  emphasized  the  Scriptures  as  their  text- 
book in  theology,  and  the  personal  independence  of  every 
one  in  the  study  of  them.  The  Sunday-schools  "  taught  Cal- 
vinism and  Pedo-baptism,  and  the  errors "  which  Freewill 
Baptists  could  not  endorse.  Again,  many  churches  of  those 
times  of  the  older  and  larger  denominations,  gave  evi- 
dence of  having  fearfully  overlooked  the  necessity  of  regen- 
eration, and  that  their  membership  was  largely  void  of  vi- 
tal piety.  Freewill  Baptists  emphasized  the  doctrine  of  the 
new  birth,  and  carefully  guarded  against  a  non-converted 
membership  (an  example  their  successors  might  well  copy), 
and  were  hence  cautious,  doubtless  to  a  fault,  of  early  con- 
versions among  children,  and  of  efforts  to  ^^  learn  them  to 
be  Christians." 

This  tardiness  of  our  fathers  in  advancing  to  the  Sunday- 
school  work,  strange  as  it  seems  to  us,  was  nevertheless  in 
keeping  with  other  pecuUarities  attaching  to  them  of  those 
times.  We  are  struck,  for  example,  with  the  tameness  of 
the  action  of  the  second  General  Conference,  1S28,  in  an- 
swer to  an  inquiry  from  the  Maine  Western  Yearly  IMeeting, 
— "We  advise  our  brethren,  who  are  convinced  of  the  utility 
of  Sunday-schools,  to  form  them,"  &c.  Tame  enough.  But 
this  was  only  eight  years  after  the  Freewill  Baptists  of  Upper 
Gilmanton  took  the  precaution,  just  before  a  session  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting  to  be  held  there,  to  have  the  Selectmen  of 
the  place  post  notices  "forbidding  the  sale  of  spirituous 
liquors  in  the  streets  or  near  the  meeting,"  and  a  less  time 
after  the  Weare   Quarterly  Meeting  "  earnestly  recommend- 


Sunday-school   Work.  171 

ed  (to  its  members)  not  to  use  any  ardent  spirits  on  funeral 
occasions  except  when  the  patient  died  of  some  contagious 
disease." 

The  first  Freewill  Baptist  Sunday-school  of  which  we  have 
any  record  was  in  Wilton,  Me.,  18 19,  sustained  by  the  influ- 
ence of  Rev.  John  Foster.  From  about  this  time  schools 
were  occasionally  organized,  the  churches  growing  gradually 
in  favor  of  them.  In  183 1  our  best  ministers  and  churches 
favored  them,  instituted  sample  forms  and  sought  to  give 
them  permanency.  In  1832  schools  were  formed  in  many 
churches.  By  the  General  Conference  of  1839  it  was  re- 
solved, Thomas  Perkins  chairman,  "That  we  regard  the 
Sunday-school  cause  as  a  bright  harbinger  of  the  Millennial 
day,  the  era  of  glory  on  earth,  in  which  aU  shall  know  the 
Lord  from  the  least  to  the  greatest."  At  the  General  Con- 
ference of  1839  it  was  reported,  "the  denomination,  as  a 
body,  is  known  to  be  in  favor  of  such  institutions."  "The 
Morning  Star,"  favorable  from  the  first,  early  emphasized 
the  importance  of  the  Sunday-school.  In  its  issue  of  July 
22,  1 83 1,  appeared  an  editorial  on  the  management  of  the 
Freewill  Baptist  Sunday-school  of  Limerick,  Me.,  at  which 
place  the  "Star"  was  then  being  pubhshed,  and  on  the  29th 
of  the  same  month  opened,  in  its  columns,  a  Sunday-school 
department.  Calls  now  began  to  come  in  for  Sunday-school 
libraries,  and  at  the  General  Conference  of  1833,  pursuant 
to  a  request  from  the  Kennebec  Yearly  Meeting,  it  was 
agreed  that  "  the  Publishing  Committee  and  Book  Agent 
be  instructed  to  act  as  a  Sunday-school  Union,  for  the  con- 
nection, until  further  measures  shall  be  taken  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  subject."  This  organization  was  effected  and 
a  constitution  adopted  and  reported  in  the  "Star"  of  June 
16,  1834.  Subscriptions  of  money  were  now  soon  made  for 
pubUshing  books,  and  a  call  issued  for  applications  for  libra- 
ries.    In   1834  agents  were  appointed  for  the  organization 


172  Centennial  Record. 

and  encouragement  of  Sunday-schools,  and  Revs.  Samuel 
and  P.  S.  Burbank  were  so  employed  in  N.  H.  and  western 
Me.  In  1835  renewed  efforts  were  made  to  increase  the 
resources  of  the  Union.  At  length,  the  Sunday-school 
Union,  composed  of  the  Publishing  Committee  and  Agent, 
desired  an  organization  in  which  the  denomination  should 
take  part  and  be  responsible,  and,  instructed  by  the  General 
Conference  of  1835  issued  a  call  for  a  convention  which  met 
at  Great  Falls,  Feb.  24,  1836,  and  here  was  organized  the 
present  Freewill  Baptist  Sunday-school  Union.  Samuel 
Runnells,  of  New  Durham,  a  co-laborer  with  Randall,  and 
one  of  our  most  efficient  business  men,  was  made  the  first 
President,  though  at  that  time  over  eighty  years  of  age. 
Enoch  Place,  Samuel  B.  Dyer,  N.  King,  John  Buzzell,  John 
Foster  were  elected  Vice-Presidents,  Enoch  Mack,  Secretary 
and  Wm.  Burr,  Treasurer.  These  all  "  rest  from  their  labors 
and  their  works  do  follow  them."  Wm.  Thayer,  of  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.,  was  appointed  General  Agent  without  promise 
of  salary  or  compensation,  more  than  the  friends  of  his  work 
might  choose  to  contribute.  Of  this  Agent,  the  Executive 
Committee  said,  in  their  first  Annual  Report,  "  our  Agent, 
Mr.  Thayer,  is  a  gentleman  in  whom  we  have  unlimited 
confidence,  and  who  renders  his  services  gratuitously,  to- 
gether with  expenses  incident  to  the  prosecution  of  his 
Agency,  to  the  amount  of  ^400."  His  enthusiasm  for  his 
work,  as  that  also  of  his  worthy  co-laborers,  is  expressed  in 
the  following  spirited  resolution,  moved  by  the  Agent  and 
unanimously  supported  at  this  same  anniversary :  "  Re- 
solved, That  by  the  help  of  the  Lord  this  Union  will  use  its 
best  efforts  to  have  established,  within  three  years,  a  well- 
organized  and  well-sustained  Sunday-school  in  every  church 
in  our  denomination."  At  the  first  anniversary  it  was  re- 
ported that  there  were  seventy-five  thousand  children  and 
youth  connected  with  Freewill  Baptist  families,  that  ought  to 


Sunday-school   Work.  173 

be  enlisted  in  the  study  of  the  Bible.  By  this  time  §150  of 
pledges  previously  made  had  been  collected,  and  besides, 
other  moneys  donated,  to  the  amount  in  all  of  $193-75,  and 
a  Depository  estabhshed  at  Dover  of  1,200  books  and  300 
unbound  pamphlets,  at  an  expense  of  $209.69.  By  the  di- 
rection of  the  Executive  Committee  about  this  time  a  Trea- 
tise of  24  pp.  was  published,  upon  the  manner  of  organizing 
and  conducting  Sunday-schools,  which  was  subsequently 
widely  circulated  and  very  helpful  to  the  churches.  From 
this  date  to  the  present  the  Union,  has  steadily  prosecuted 
its  work,  through  many  perplexities,  collecting  and  disburs- 
ing funds,  publishing,  selecting  and  distributing  books  and 
other  Sunday-school  literature,  employing  agents,  collecting 
and  reporting  statistics  and  other  items  of  interest  to  Sunday- 
school  workers.  During  the  last  ten  years,  under  the  Secre- 
taryship of  Bro.  E.  W.  Page,  of  New  York,  the  annual  re- 
ports of  the  Union  have  been  published  in  pamphlet  form, 
containing  tables  of  statistics,  a  report  of  Sunday-school 
work  in  our  denomination  in  general,  together  with  items  on 
temperance,  reform,  and  other  topics  of  general  and  special 
interest, — a  valuable  help,  a  copy  of  which  ought  to  be  in 
every  Freewill  Baptist  family. 

The  Printing  Establishment  at  Dover  has  been  to  this,  as 
to  other  branches  of  denominational  work,  an  engine  of 
power.  Besides  its  early  editorials,  and  its  Sunday-school 
Department  in  the  "Star  "  of  which  we  have  spoken,  it  pub- 
hshed  in  1833  a  "Catechism  for  children,"  of  60  pp.,  pre- 
pared by  David  Marks.  This  was  followed  by  the  "Trea- 
tise" on  organizing  and  conducting  schools.  In  1S44  the 
Establishment  commenced  the  publication  of  a  "  Sabbath- 
school  Repository,"  in  pamphlet,  of  24  pp.,  4  1-2  by  7 
inches.  This  was  discontinued  after  about  one  year  for  want 
of  sufficient  patronage.  But  the  call  for  some  kind  of  Sun- 
day-school paper,  adapted  to  the  instruction  of  children,  was 


174  Centennial  Record. 

frequent  and  urgent,  and,  agreeably  to  a  recommendation  of 
the  General  Conference  of  1844,  another  effort  was  made, 
and  "The  Myrtle"  appeared  May  17,  1845,  a  semi-month- 
ly 13  by  20  inches,  or  about  one  eighth  smaller  than  "The 
Myrtle  "  of  the  present.  It  cost  50  cts.  per  copy,  or  20  cts. 
for  fifty  or  more  copies  to  one  address.  Its  first  editor  was 
Ellas  Hutchins.  It  soon  became  apparent  that  a  single  pa- 
per, semi-monthly,  did  not  meet  the  demands  of  churches 
and  Sunday-schools,  and  Jan.  11,  1873,  "The  Little  Star" 
appeared  alternating  with  "  The  Myrtle,"  the  two  supplying 
reading  matter  to  Sunday-schools  for  every  Sunday,  and 
suited  to  the  different  grades  of  scholars.  Subscriptions  to 
"  The  Myrtle  "  were,  at  the  beginning,  1845,  less  than  1,000 ; 
in  1855,  10,000;  in  1865,  12,000,  and  1875,  16,000. 
"The  Little  Star,"  at  first,  1873,  ^^^  a  subscription  list  of 
13,000.  At  present,  "The  Myrtle,"  reduced  somewhat  by 
"The  Little  Star,"  has  a  patronage  of  10,000,  and  the  two  of 
19,000. 

In  1867  the  Establishment  published  a  "Question  Book," 
by  Rev.  G.  H.  Ball,  and  another  for  children  by  Mrs.  Mary 
Latham  Clark,  called  "  The  Story  of  Jesus."  Two  years  la- 
ter another  was  published  for  children,  by  the  same  author- 
ess, called  "  The  Wonderful  Works  of  Jesus."  These  all 
met  with  ready  sale.  Soon  followed  the  era  of  "  Lesson 
Leaves,"  and  "Notes  and  Hints,"  with  Scripture  Lessons 
and  Questions,  by  Prof.  J.  A.  Howe,  of  Lewiston,  Me.,  ap- 
peared in  a  separate  small  sheet  of  4  pp.  commencing  with 
the  lesson  for  July  6,  1873.  These  "  Lesson  Leaves  "  and 
"  Question  Books  "  still  continue.* 

The  question  of  publishing  books  for  Sunday-school  libra- 
ries was  often  brought  forward,  but  delayed  from  time  to 


*"  The  Star  Quarterly,"  under  the  editorship  of  Rev.  G.  C.  Waterman,  be- 
gan its  career  with  the  opening  of  the  present  year  (i88i). 


Sunday-school   Work.  175 

time,  fearing  the  competition  of  old  and  independent  estab- 
lishments already  supplying  the  trade.  At  length,  in  1867, 
the  proposition  to  unite  with  D.  Lothrop  &  Co.,  of  Boston, 
who  thought  to  go  into  the  Sunday-school  publishing  busi- 
ness, was  favorably  entertained.  At  a  special  meeting  of  the 
Corporators,  Jan.,  1S68,  Revs.  G.  T.  Day,  I.  D.  Stewart  and 
S.  Curtis  were  constituted  a  committee  with  discretionary 
power,  which  resulted  in  a  partnership  between  the  Printing 
Establishment  and  the  said  D.  Lothrop  &  Co.,  and  the  pub- 
lication of  Sunday-school  books  commenced.  The  said 
firms  jointly  offered  a  prize  of  ^500  for  the  best  manuscript 
for  Sunday-school  books.  From  the  copies  offered  six  of 
the  best  were  obtained,  and  the  prize  paid.  Then  a  $1,000 
prize  was  offered  for  the  same  purpose,  and  a  series  of  six- 
teen books  pubUshed.  Soon  after  another  prize  of  $500, 
and  so  the  best  talent  of  the  denomination  was  enlisted  in 
this  good  work.  The  publication  of  books  continued  to  the 
number  of  forty-four,  when,  Feb.  i,  1877,  the  partnership 
was  closed,  the  Establishment  at  Dover  selling  out  its  inter- 
est in  the  aforesaid  books  to  D.  Lothrop  &  Co. 

It  would  be  gratifying  to  record  the  origin  and  progress  of 
Sunday-schools  in  the  different  parts  of  the  denomination, 
but  we  have  been  able  to  collect  but  few  of  such  items. 
The  Rhode  Island  Association  of  Freewill  Baptists  have  a 
Sunday-school  Union  of  their  own  and  of  much  efficiency, 
commenced  at  a  session  of  the  Rhode  Island  Yearly  Ivleet- 
ing  at  South  Kingston,  Aug.,  1854.  Our  first  Sunday- 
school  among  freedmen  of  the  Shenandoah  valley,  Va.,  fol- 
lowed at  once  upon  the  freedom  of  the  slaves,  and  the  close 
of  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  The  first  was  formed  at  Harper's 
Ferry  by  Rev.  N.  C.  Brackett,  in  1865.  They  are  now 
found  all  the  way  from  Martinsburg  on  the  north  to  Harris- 
burg  on  the  south,  wherever  our  Home  Mission  has  planted 
its   representative  teachers.      Sunday-schools  were  also  or- 


176  Centennial  Rccoj-d. 

ganized  at  Cairo,  111.,  in  the  same  year,  by  P.  C.  Talford 
and  are  now  found  in  nearly  all  the  churches  in  the  mission. 

The  first  Freewill  Baptist  Sunday-school  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi was  in  Iowa,  organized  in  the  log-cabin  home  of 
Rev.  N.  W.  Bixby,  our  Home  Mission's  first  missionary  to 
that  territory,  in  the  year  1848,  only  two  years  after  the  ter- 
ritory became  a  State.  Mrs.  Ruby  Bixby,  wife  of  N.  W. 
Bixby  and  recently  called  from  labor  to  reward,  .was  for  a 
long  time  its  superintendent.  Our  first  Sunday-school  in 
India,  says  Mrs.  H.  C.  Phillips,  was  at  Sumbhulpore,  and  Si- 
las Curtis,  now  pastor  of  the  church  at  Jellasore,  his  sister, 
Kate  N.  Thurstin,  and  David  Marks,  native  converts,  were 
its  charter  members.  The  last  two  have  passed  to  their  re- 
ward. 

In  conclusion  we  invite  special  attention  to  a  few  items  rel- 
ative to  our  Sunday-school  history  and  work :  i .  The  Free- 
will Baptist  Sunday-school  Union  has  done  a  quiet  but  com- 
mendable work  and  deserves  aid  and  encouragement,  much 
more  than  have  hitherto  been  given  it.  Prior  to  1870  con- 
tributions of  money  and  general  reports  were  meager.  From 
this  time  churches  and  Sunday-schools  grew  more  liberal  and 
enterprising.  From  1870  to  1875  money  raised  by  Sunday- 
schools,  for  Sunday-schools  and  for  benevolence,  was  re- 
ported separately,  that  for  Sunday-schools  amounting  to 
^52,660.50  and  that  for  benevolence  to  ^12,977.50,  making 
an  aggregate  of  $65,638,  more  than  $13,000  per  year.  From 
1875  to  1879,  the  contributions  were  reported  as  one,  amount- 
ing in  the  four  years,  to  $30,479,  aggregating  in  the  ten  years 
the  handsome  sum  of  $96,117,  more  than  $9,500  per  year. 

But  the  sum  reported  to,  and  by,  the  Union  was  from  less 
than  one  half  the  Sunday-schools  reported  in  the  "  Register," 
and  the  "  Register "  reports  the  schools  of  little  more  than 
two  thirds  the  aggregate  membership  of  the  denomination. 
It  would  hence  seem  a  safe  estimate  to  place  the  amount  of 


Sunday-school   Work.  177 

money  contributed  by  Sunday-schools  of  the  denomination 
in  the  last  ten  years  alone  at  ;^200,ooo,  or  at  $20,000  per 
year, — a  liberality  of  which  we  have  no  occasion  to  be 
ashamed. 

2.  The  number  of  conversions  reported  by  the  Union  dur- 
ing the  past  ten  years,  is  8,085,  about  one  to  every  twenty- 
four  to  thirty  of  the  scholars.  But  as  we  have  said,  the  Un- 
ion reports  less  than  one  half  the  Sunday-schools  reported  in 
the  "  Register,"  and  the  "Register"  reports  the  Sunday- 
schools  of  only  about  two  thirds  of  the  churches,  indicating 
that  the  annual  conversions  from  the  Sunday-schools  of  the 
denomination  are  nearly  or  quite  two  thousand. 

3.  Our  teacliing  force  numbers  probably  six  thousand  and 
a  half. 

4.  The  number  of  Sunday-school  scholars  reported  in  the 
"  Register  "  is  less  by  considerable  than  that  of  the  reported 
membership  of  churches,  showing  that  there  is  a  great  lack  of 
outside  missionary  work  in  behalf  of  the  church  and  Sunday- 
schools. 

5.  More  than  one  third  of  the  churches  of  the  denomina- 
tion make  no  report  of  their  Sunday-school  work,  a  lamenta- 
ble and  inexcusable  neglect. 

Finally,  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  compare  the 
reports  of  our  Sunday-school  work  with  those  of  other  de- 
nominations, the  degree  of  liberaHty  and  the  number  of  con- 
versions in  our  Sunday-schools  are  quite  equal,  in  proportion, 
to  those  of  other  denominations. 

May  He,  who,  eighteen  centuries  ago,  blessed  little  chil- 
dren, bless  and  extend  this  heaven-boni  institution,  the  Sun- 
day-school, to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth. 


TEMPERANCE. 


The  history  of  temperance  work  done  by  Freewill  Baptists 
during  the  hundred  years  just  closed  is  for  the  most  part  un- 
written. It  has  not  been  done,  as  a  rule,  tlirough  organized 
societies,  and  so  but  few  records  of  it  are  preserved.  In  this 
brief  paper,  little  more  can  be  done  than  to  bring  together 
these  records,  along  with  some  facts  and  incidents  that  are 
found  presei-ved  only  in  the  memories  of  aged  persons 
now  living.  These  are  sufficient  to  show  that  during  the  cen- 
tury our  people  have  done  a  very  commendable  work,  and 
have  made  their  influence  very  generally  felt  for  good  in  the 
line  of  temperance.  Our  motto  has  been,  total  abstinence 
for  ourselves  and  prohibition  for  all  disposed  to  engage  in  the 
manufacture,  importation,  sale  or  use  of  that  which  will  intox- 
icate. 

In  commenting  on  the  position  of  our  people  on  this  ques- 
tion, John  P.  Hale  once  said  that  whenever  he  met  a  Free- 
will Baptist  he  expected  to  "  find  a  true  friend  of  anti-slavery 
and  temperance." 

Gen.  Neal  Dow  in  speaking  of  the  same,  under  date  of 
June  24,  18S0,  said  this  : 

"  I  have  been  well  acquainted  with  the  position  of  the 
Freewill  Baptist  denomination  on  the  subject  of  temperance 
and  prohibition  from  the  beginning  of  the  organization.  I 
have  traveled  extensively  over  the  country  for  many  years, 
and  have  come  in  contact  with  a  great  many  persons  of  that 


Temperance.  179 

denomination, — ministers,  laymen  and  women, — and  I  do 
not  remember  one  who  was  not  thoroughly  a  friend  of  this 
great  movement,  as  they  are  to-day.  .  .  .  Their  ministry 
has  ever  been  among  the  most  indefatigable,  earnest  and 
useful  workers,  never  sparing  time  or  labor  in  the  cause. 
Without  them  the  cause  would  not  stand  where  it  does  to- 
day." 

A  few  historical  facts  will  reveal  the  prevailing  sentiments 
of  the  people,  and  their  customs  concerning  the  use  of  intox- 
icating liquors  as  a  beverage,  previous  to  the  temperance  re- 
form, and  help  us  the  better  to  understand  how  severe  the 
fight  our  fathers  made,  and  the  more  fully  to  appreciate  their 
work. 

When  Rev.  Solomon  Lombard  was  ordained  as  first  minis- 
ter of  the  town  of  Gorham,  Maine,  among  the  supplies  for  the 
occasion,  a  Ust  of  which  is  still  in  existence,  were  two  barrels 
of  cider,  two  gallons  of  brandy  and  four  gallons  of  rum. 
That  must  have  been  a  very  spiritual  occasion  ! 

In  Randall's  day,  at  Quarterly  and  Yearly  Meetings,  it  was 
customary  for  intoxicating  liquors  to  be  sold  in  tents. 
Preachers  would  m-ge  sellers  to  desist,  but  usually  to  no  pur- 
pose, as  no  laws  against  the  practice  then  existed.  Once 
when  a  meeting  was  being  held  in  Benj.  Randall's  bam,  a 
man  commenced  selling  rum  in  the  shed.  Mr.  Randall, 
learning  the  fact,  went  to  the  shed  and  at  once  drove  him 
from  the  place.     He  beheved  in,  and  practiced,  legal  suasion. 

The  original  list  of  articles  furnished  for  Randall's  funeral 
in  1808  is  still  in  existence,  and  first  on  this  list  we  find  "one 
gallon  of  rum,  7  s."  In  1822,  fourteen  years  after  the 
death  of  Randall,  the  New  Durham  Quarterly  Meeting 
held  one  of  its  sessions  at  New  Durham.  Two  barrels  of 
cider  were  purchased  with  which  to  entertain  visitors  in  at- 
tendance, and  was  paid  for  by  the  church  at  the  rate  of  two 
dollars  per  barrel. 


I  So  Centennial  Record. 

One  of  the  fathers  of  our  denomination,  speaking  of  the 
condition  of  things  previous  to  the  temperance  reform  agi- 
tation, and  the  general  drinking  customs  of  the  people,  said 
this: 

"  The  world  was  swimming  in  alcohol.  Men's  blindness 
was  unfavorable  to  reform  and  their  appetites  almost  forbade 
it.  The  element  of  destruction  was  so  diluted  that  it  was  ac- 
commodated to  every  taste  from  the  man  who  took  it  fresh 
and  fiery  from  the  distillery,  down  to  the  child  who  drank  it 
from  the  coddle  cup,  or  nursed  it  from  the  breast  of  its  moth- 
er. Portions  were  regularly  taken  in  the  field,  and  also  in 
the  mechanic's  shop.  It  was  the  first  resort  of  the  attorney 
on  leaving  the  bar,  the  judge  on  leaving  the  bench  and  the 
juror  on  leaving  the  box.  And,  must  I  say  the  same — I  say 
it  with  shame — of  him  on  leaving  the  pulpit  whose  duty  it  is 

'  To  train  by  every  rule 
Of  holy  discipline  to  glorious  war 
The  sacramental  hosts  of  God's  elect '? 

"  The  physician  first  drank,  then  prescribed  to  his  patient. 
Not  a  family,  rich  or  poor,  was  without  it.  Side-boards  and 
cup-boards  were  laden  with  vessels  containing  wines,  brandy, 
gin  and  St.  Croix.  Not  a  Rechabite  was  to  be  found,  or  if 
there  was  he  was  reproached  for  his  singularity  and  niggard- 
liness.    All  seemed  bound  one  way." 

Such  was  the  state  of  things,  even  fifty  years  ago,  that  it 
was  thought  a  marriage,  birth  or  burial  could  not,  or  at  least 
should  not,  take  place  without  intoxicating  liquor  of  some 
kind.  Not  a  building  could  be  raised,  or  a  hard  job  of  work 
done  without  it.  It  was  the  chief  article  of  social  entertain- 
ment. It  was  made  the  test  of  friendship,  and  the  pledge  of 
agreements.  Indeed  it  seems  to  have  been  generally  regard- 
ed the  chief  guardian  of  bodily  health,  and  the  panacea  of 
every  disease  that  flesh  is  heir  to.  It  was  kept  regularly  for 
sale  at  grocery  stores,  and  was  one  of  the  chief  articles  of 


Temperance.  i8i 

commerce,  as  numerous  journals  now  in  existence  will  testify. 
It  was  used  quite  generally  by  clergymen  and  church  mem- 
bers. 

One  of  the  fathers  very  early  in  the  temperance  reform  said  : 

*'  Rum  in  the  church  has  caused  me  more  tears  and  anxie- 
ties than  all  other  evils  put  together  which  I  have  found  in  it 
since  my  connection  with  it." 

To  breast  this  mighty  tide  of  public  sentiment  and  general 
custom,  dislodge  the  enemy  from  his  strongholds,  in  which  by 
long-continued  and  almost  universal  usage  he  had  become 
thoroughly  entrenched,  and  stay  his  progress  and  fearful  rav- 
ages, required  a  moral  and  Cliristian  heroism  scarcely  less 
than  that  of  the  martyrs. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  foundations  of  the 
temperance  reform  had  to  be  laid  amid  opposition  such  as 
we  know  little  about.  Scorn,  ridicule  and  even  persecution 
were  plied  in  numerous  ways.  Often  those  who  had  the 
courage  to  openly  oppose  the  drinking  customs  of  the  day 
were  socially  ostracised.  Reproach  and  ridicule  were  heaped 
•with  a  lavish  hand  upon  every  man,  woman  and  child  who 
dared  sign  a  pledge  of  total  abstinence.  Their  reputations 
were  assailed,  and  their  motives  grossly  misrepresented. 

But  the  fathers  were  equal  to  the  work,  and  with  the 
pledge  of  total  abstinence  in  their  hands,  and  the  principle  of 
love  and  prohibition  in  their  hearts,  they  boldly  entered  the 
fight. 

The  courage  with  which  they  commenced  this  work  is 
well  exemplified  in  the  following  words  of  one  of  our  early 
and  most  honored  ministers  : 

"  I  identify  myself  with  it  (the  temperance  reform)  for  bet- 
ter or  for  worse.  Dear  as  is  the  blood  which  courses  in  my 
veins,  I  stand  or  fall  with  it." 

The  son  of  one  of  our  prominent  ministers  at  one  time 
rented  a  building  of  his  father,  and  commenced  the  work  of 


1 82  Centennial  Record. 

selling  rum.  The  father,  learning  the  fact,  not  only  ejected 
him  at  once  from  the  building  and  broke  up  his  wicked  traffic, 
but  caused  him  to  be  arrested  and  imprisoned.  Rev.  Clement 
Phinney  used  to  say  :  "  I  would  rather  sleep  in  a  temperance 
man's  barn  than  to  sleep  in  a  palace  owned  by  a  rum-seller." 

Another  incident  well  illustrates  the  spirit  of  our  ministry. 
Rev.  Albert  Purrington  at  one  time  had  carried  a  load  of  bar- 
ley about  ten  miles  to  market.  While  the  barley  was  being 
unloaded  he  learned  that  it  was  being  purchased  for  distilling 
purposes,  and  at  once  said  to  the  agent :  "  You  can't  have 
my  barley."  He  had  the  bags  reloaded  that  had  been  taken 
off,  and  carried  every  bushel  of  the  grain  back  to  his  home. 
On  being  reminded  that  he  was  a  poor  man,  and  asked  what 
he  would  do  with  his  barley,  he  answered  promptly  and  with 
much  emphasis  :  "  I  would  rather  let  it  rot  and  use  it  for 
fertilizing  my  land  than  sell  it  for  purposes  of  intemperance." 

What  is  knoA\Ti  as  the  temperance  reform  commenced  in 
1826  with  the  organization  of  the  American  Temperance  So- 
ciety in  Boston.  Our  denomination  fully  identified  itself 
with  the  cause  at  that  time,  without  waiting  to  be  pushed  in- 
to the  work  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  or  till  it  became 
popular.  At  this  time  Rev.  John  Chaney  was  living  in 
Farmington,  Maine,  and  feeling  a  strong  conviction  that 
something  should  be  done  to  stay  the  tide  of  intemperance, 
and  rescue  at  least  some  of  its  numerous  victims,  with  Spar- 
tan courage  he  opened  the  fight  in  his  own  town  single- 
handed  and  alone.  He  drew  up  a  temperance  pledge — the 
first  he  ever  saw — in  1826,  the  very  year  in  which  the  great 
reform  movement  commenced.  This  pledge  he  used  with 
some  degree  of  success,  though  from  the  beginning  of  his 
work  he  met  with  great  opposition,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected. With  reference  to  his  experience  with  this  pledge 
Mr.  Chaney  says : 

"  I  had  droll  kind  of  luck  for  awhile,  but  I  kept  on  and  fi- 


Tem-perance.  183 

nally  prevailed.  I  first  showed  it  to  Dr.  Barker,  in  Wilton — 
a  good  Congregationalist.  He  said,  '  That's  right,  but  a  little 
ahead  of  the  age.  I  am  afraid  it  would  hurt  my  practice  to 
sign  it  just  now,  but  go  on.'  " 

He  went  on  patiently,  persistently,  heroically,  and  great 
good  was  accomphshed.  In  1840  he  removed  to  South  Ber- 
■vick,  Maine,  where  he  took  a  bold  stand  for  total  abstinence, 
and  had  a  severe  fight  with  the  enemy  as  the  sequel  wU 
show.  He  preached,  lectured,  distributed  tracts,  and  used 
all  possible  means  to  awaken  the  public  mind  to  a  sense  of 
the  appalling  evils  of  the  liquor  traffic.  He  boldly  character- 
ized the  traffic  as  "  of  necessity  a  crime  of  great  magnitude, 
and  as  such  should  be  treated  in  all  departments  of  society 
and  punished  in  all  courts  of  justice." 

This  greatly  enraged  the  rum-sellers  who  began  to  threat- 
en his  life  if  he  did  not  leave  the  town.  One  of  them  shook 
his  fist  in  his  face  and  angrily  said  :  "  If  it  were  not  for  the 
law  I  would  shoot  you  as  soon  as  I  would  kill  a  snake." 
"  But,"  says  Mr.  Chaney,  "  I  forgot  to  be  frightened — still 
keeping  on  in  my  work." 

The  following  incident  occurred  in  connection  with  his 
work  in  1842,  and  is  related  in  his  own  language  : 

"  One  day  while  I  was  away  from  home  attending  a  Quar- 
terly Meeting  in  New  Hampshire,  a  plot  was  laid  to  mob 
my  house.  I  got  home  about  11  o'clock  at  night.  My 
family  had  retired  to  bed.  Unconscious  of  danger,  but  cer- 
tain of  the  rectitude  of  my  intentions,  I  kneeled  by  a  win- 
dow and  prayed,  as  was  my  custom  before  retiring.  Then 
I  arose  and  stepped  before  the  window,  when  a  volley  of 
stones  and  bats  came  crashing  against  the  sash  and  through 
the  glass.  The  sash  was  broken  out,  and  the  glass  dashed 
into  my  clothes,  but,  strange  to  say,  personally  I  was  un- 
scathed. I  ran  to  the  door.  The  cowardly  assassins  took 
to  their  heels  and  fled." 


1 84  Centennial  Record. 

There  seems  little  doubt  that  they  intended  either  to 
greatly  injure  him  or  take  his  Hfe.  His  escape  seems  al- 
most a  miracle.  A  popular  lawyer  of  the  place  said  con- 
cerning the  affair : 

"  Mr.  Chaney,  you  have  done  a  great  deal  for  temperance 
before,  but  this  is  the  best  blow  you  have  struck  yet." 
And  so  it  proved.  As  a  result  the  temperance  cause  was 
more  warmly  and  widely  espoused  in  the  vicinity  by  all 
classes  than  ever  before. 

Mr.  Chaney  was  one  of  the  heroes  who  helped  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  the  temperance  reform,  and  make  possible 
the  glorious  victories  which  have  since  been  achieved. 

The  earliest  recorded  official  action  of  our  people  on  this 
subject  was  taken  by  our  second  General  Conference  held 
in  Sandwich,  N.  H.,  in  1828.  At  that  Conference  Rev.  Ro- 
sea Quinby,  D.  D.,  presented  the  following  resolution,  which 
was  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  we  advise  the  members  of  our  churches  to  abstain  from 
the  use  of  ardent  spirits  on  all  occasions,  except  when  they  are  necessary  as 
a  medicine. 

The  second  important  action  on  this  subject  was  taken 
by  the  General  Conference  held  in  Meredith,  N.  H.,  in 
1832,  although  we  have  good  evidence  that  efficient  work 
was  done  in  various  sections  during  the  intervening  years. 
At  this  Conference  a  committee  was  appointed  to  draft  reso- 
lutions for  the  consideration  of  the  Conference,  which  had 
never  been  done  before.  As  these  are  the  first  recorded 
resolutions  of  importance  adopted  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence they  are  given  in  full. 

Art.  I.  Resolved,  That  we  will  totally  abstain  from  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits  or  use  them  only  as  a  medicine  when  no  good  substitute  can  be  pro- 
cured. 

Art.  2.  We  will  not  vend  nor  be  concerned  in  vending  the  same,  will 
not  provide  them  for  any  persons  in  our  employment  nor  furnish  them  as 
drink  for  friends. 


Temperance.  185 

Art.  3.  We  will  use  our  utmost  endeavors  to  prevent  their  use  as  a 
djtink  by  every  person  to  whom  our  influence  in  any  way  extends. 

Art.  4.  As  officers  of  the  church  we  will  lay  our  hands  on  no  man  who 
uses  them  or  advocates  their  use  as  a  drink,  and  will  record  our  vote  against 
approbating  any  such  as  ministers  of  the  Gospel. 

Resolved,  i.  That  we  earnestly  entreat  every  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Con- 
ference to  resolve  itself  into  a  Temperance  Society,  recognizing  the  above 
principles. 

2.  That  we  consider  it  unbecoming  the  Christian  character  to  speak 
lightly  of  so  important  a  cause  as  that  of  Temperance,  and  that  we  earnestly 
pray  our  brethren  for  Jesus'  sake  not  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  sinner 
and  the  drunkard  by  countenancing  their  opposition  to  temperance  soci- 
eties. 

3.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  ministers  to  speak  publicly  upon  the  subject  and 
to  form  temperance  societies  wherever  it  is  practicable. 

4.  That  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits  is  an  ungodly  traffic,  that  those  engaged 
in  it  are  guilty  of  promoting  misery  and  vice,  and  hence  are  virtually  lead- 
ing souls  down  to  hell,  and  that  any  who  are  engaged  in  it,  except  for  medi- 
cinal purposes,  ought  to  be  labored  with,  and  if  they  persist  in  it  excommu- 
nicated. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  stronger  resolutions  could  be 
adopted,  or  more  advanced  ground  taken ;  and  yet  we 
learn  from  an  article  in  "The  Morning  Star  "  of  the  same 
year,  that  some  members  of  the  Conference  refused  to  sign 
them  because  they  were  not  strong  enough. 

These  recommendations  of  the  General  Conference  were 
heeded  to  considerable  extent.  Quarterly  and  Yearly  Meet- 
ings and  Ministers'  conferences  were  organized  into  temper- 
ance societies  in  various  sections,  and  good  results  followed. 
In  the  work  of  nearly  every  General  Conference  since  1832 
temperance  has  found  a  large  place,  and  over  and  over 
again,  as  a  people,  we  have  put  ourselves  on  record  as  op- 
posed to  the  manufacture,  sale  or  use  of  everything  that  will 
intoxicate. 

In  the  same  year  in  which  the  General  Conference  took 
the  important  action  just  referred  to.  Rev.  Arthur  Caverno 
preached  a  powerful  temperance  sermon  in  the  town  of 
Hopkinton,  N.  H.,  in  which  he  gave  all  the  drinking  cus- 


1 86  Centennial  Record. 

toms  of  the  day  a  broadside,  and  took  strong  ground  against 
what  was  then  known  as  "  temperate  drinking,"  or  "  drink- 
ing enough  and  what  is  needful." 

In  speaking  of  the  evil  of  the  rum-trafific  he  used  this 
strong  language  : 

"  On  whatever  side  the  subject  is  viewed,  whether  in  the 
manufacture,  sale,  purchase  or  use,  it  presents  its  horrors. 
War,  pestilence  or  famine  presents  no  parallel.  To  me 
Death,  upon  the  pale  horse,  and  Hell  following  with  him  cuts 
not  a  more  frightful  figure. 

"  There  is  no  evil  or  miser}^  which  this  can  not  and  does  not 
produce.  I  like  to  have  said  rags  and  blood  cover  the 
ground  wherever  it  goes." 

This  sermon  was  published  by  our  Printing  Establishment 
in  the  following  year — 1833 — and  was  the  first  publication  it 
sent  forth  to  the  world. 

From  this  time  onward  the  subject  was  taken  up  generally 
and  heartily  by  our  people,  our  ministers  preaching  and  lect- 
uring on  the  subject  with  good  effect. 

The  light  of  "The  Morning  Star  "  on  this  subject  has  nev- 
er been  dim,  and  unlike  too  many  periodicals  of  its  kind  it 
has  never  had  any  apologies  to  make  for  the  rum-traffic. 
It  earnestly  espoused  the  cause  at  the  beginning  of  its  work. 
Its  first  number  appeared  May  11,  1826,  and  on  Oct.  5th 
of  the  same  year  appeared  its  first  editorial  on  the  evils  of 
intemperance,  though  several  articles  touching  the  subject 
had  appeared  previously.  In  1834  it  established  a  Temper- 
ance Department,  and  devoted  a  portion  of  its  columns  to 
the  subject  each  week.  It  gave  faithful  accounts  of  temper- 
ance work  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  always  had  a  word 
of  cheer  for  those  engaged  in  the  great  battle,  and  this  too 
while  many  other  papers  were  ridiculing  the  temperance 
cause,  and  apologizing  for  the  rum-traffic. 

But  there  are  forms  of  intemperance  other  than  the  use 


Temperance.  187 

of  intoxicating  liquors,  against  one  of  which  especially  our 
people  early  began  to  use  their  influence.  And  there  is 
need  of  much  work  still  in  the  same  direction.  Cleanliness 
of  body  and  purity  of  soul  ought  to  accompany  each  other, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  vast  and  useless  expenditures  of  money 
and  of  vital  energy  which  are  so  much  needed  in  other  di- 
rections. 

In  1839  our  General  Conference,  held  in  Ohio,  adopted 
the  following : 

Whereas  tobacco  is  one  of  the  most  deadly  poisons  in  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  and  its  use  injurious  to  the  health  and  happiness  of  mankind, 
therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  use  of  tobacco  is  in  direct  opposition  to  the  true 
principles  of  temperance,  that  it  becomes  us  as  a  denominadon  to  labor  for 
the  removal  of  this  evil  from  among  us,  and  especially  firom  the  ministry ; 
and  that  we  earnestly  entreat  our  brethren  who  have  been  engaged  in  the 
filthy  practice  of  using  this  obnoxious  weed  to  abstain  therefrom. 

In  1853  the  General  Conference  adopted  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  the  use  of  tobacco,  either  in  chewing,  smoking  or  snuf- 
fing, is  too  expensive,  injurious  to  health,  filthy  and  detrimental  to  Christian 
character  and  influence  to  be  indulged  in  at  all,  especially  by  the  ministers 
of  Christ's  precious,  self-denying  Gospel. 

As  a  people  we  early  adopted  and  have  endeavored  to  en- 
force the  principle  of  prohibition,  believing  that  legal  as 
well  as  moral  measures  are  needed  for  the  promotion  of 
temperance,  and  that  proper  restraint  is  a  part  of  God's 
great  law  of  love. 

The  following  resolution,  adopted  by  our  people  early  in 
the  temperance  reform,  weU  deiines  their  position  on  the 
legal  aspect  of  the  question  : 

That  the  vender  of  intoxicating  drinks  is  responsible  for  the  evils  of 
which  he  is  knowingly,  unnecessarily  and  voluntarily  the  author,  and  should 
be  regarded  by  the  community  as  guilty  of  all  the  misery  and  crime  and 
death  which  he  produces,  and  that  our  lawgivers  should  by  the  enactment 
of  laws  to  this  eflfect  protect  the  community  from  the  harmful  and  merciless 
influence  of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks. 


1 88  Ccntcnnml  Record. 

As  a  people,  too,  we  believe  that  our  voting  should  be  in 
harmony  with  our  prohibitory  belief — in  other  words,  that  we 
should  vote  as  we  pray — as  indicated  by  the  following  reso- 
lution of  the  fathers  : 

That  in  our  opinion  where  temperance  is  the  issue  it  is  the  imperative 
duty  of  all  Christians  to  give  their  suffrages  only  to  such  men  as  can  be  re- 
lied upon  as  the  avowed  friends  of  prohibitory  law  for  the  suppression  of 
the  liquor  traffic. 

During  the  early  years  of  our  history  we,  in  common  with 
other  religious  denominations,  were  accustomed  to  use  in- 
toxicating wine  at  the  communion  table.  But  nearly  half  a 
century  ago  our  fathers  saw  the  inconsistency  of  this  prac- 
tice, and  took  steps  to  have  it  discontinued.  As  early  as 
184 1  our  General  Conference  took  definite  action  in  the 
matter,  and  recorded  itself  as  utterly  opposed  to  the  prac- 
tice, expressing  the  belief  that  there  was  "  neither  evidence 
nor  ground  of  inference  from  Scripture  that  Jesus  Christ  or 
the  apostles  made  use  of  fermented  wine  at  the  solemn  feast 
at  which  the  Lord's  Supper  was  instituted,  or  at  any  other 
time." 

Our  churches  were  advised  to  prepare  and  use  none  but 
unfermented  wine  at  the  communion  table,  and  the  advice 
was  generally  regarded.  This  position,  taken  nearly  half  a 
century  ago,  has  been  firmly  maintained  ever  since, — a  posi- 
tion which,  we  regret  to  say,  some  religious  denominations 
have  not  yet  taken. 

We  can  discover  no  reason  why  any  individual  or  church 
should  insist  on  using  at  this  most  sacred  feast  what  they 
would  not  deign  to  use  at  any  other.  And  any  church  which 
continues  the  use  of  fermented  wine  at  the  communion  ta- 
ble does  so  at  the  disapproval  of  the  body  to  which  it  be- 
longs. Although  much  efficient  temperance  work  had  been 
done  in  all  the  sections  of  our  denomination,  a  conviction 
had  long  existed,  and   constantly   grew  stronger,  that  we 


Temperance.  189 

ought  to  have  a  denominational  temperance  society  through 
which  more  systematic  work  might  be  done.  This  convic- 
tion culminated  in  definite  action  at  the  General  Conference 
held  in  Hillsdale,  Mich.,  in  Oct.  of  1871,  when  the  Freewill 
Baptist  Temperance  Union  was  organized. 

The  object  of  this  Union  is  fully  set  forth  in  the  following 
words,  quoted  from  its  constitution  : —  "  It  shall  be  the  ob- 
ject of  this  Society  to  build  up  a  public  sentiment  in  favor 
of  temperance  throughout  the  denomination  and  the  coun- 
try at  large." 

This  society  has  done,  and  is  still  doing,  a  good  work. 
It  holds  its  meetings  annually,  at  which  the  various  phases  of 
the  temperance  question  are  discussed,  addresses  given  and 
plans  laid  for  work.  From  it  has  gone  out  an  inspiration 
to  the  toilers  in  every  part  of  the  field.  It  has  caused  its 
light  to  be  seen  and  its  power  to  be  felt  throughout  the  de- 
nomination and  even  beyond  its  limits.  We  are  now,  more 
than  ever  before,  recognizing  the  importance  of  preventing 
as  well  as  of  curing  intemperance — of  saving  the  children 
while  they  are  children,  and  of  so  training  and  educating 
them  that  they  will  not  fall  into  the  snares  of  the  tempter. 
We  are  learning  the  chameleon's  philosophy  of  destroying 
the  crocodile  in  the  egg. 

Much  successful  temperance  work  has  been  done  in  our 
Sunday-schools.  In  many  of  them  temperance  finds  a  large 
and  warm  place.  The  pledge  is  circulated,  and  faithful  in- 
struction given. 

Within  the  past  year  Rev.  E.  W.  Porter,  of  Lowell,  Mass., 
has  prepared  and  had  published  a  Ritual  and  Pledge  Card 
designed  for  use  in  juvenile  organizations.  They  are  neat, 
simple  and  comprehensive  and  well  adapted  to  the  purpose 
for  which  they  are  designed.  They  may  be  used  on  a  week 
day  or  on  the  Sabbath,  and  either  may  be  used  independent- 
ly of  the  other.     At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Temperance 


ipo  Centennial  Record. 

Union,  held  in  Olneyville,  R.  I.,  in  1879,  these  were  adopt- 
ed as  our  basis  of  work  among  the  young,  and  their  use 
was  recommended  throughout  the  denomination.  The  rec- 
ommendation is  being  adopted  to  some  extent.  Some  of 
our  Sunday-schools  are  already  organized,  and  using  the  Rit- 
ual and  Pledge  Card  with  satisfaction  and  success.  And 
we  hope  that  many  more  may  soon  follow  their  example. 

While  we  rejoice  in  what  has  already  been  achieved  in 
the  line  of  temperance  reform,  and  praise  God  for  the  part 
he  has  enabled  us  as  a  people  to  bear,  may  a  sense  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  work  yet  to  be  done  inspire  us  with  cour- 
age and  zeal  to  go  forward  and  accomplish  still  more  in  the 
future. 


ANTI-SLAVERY. 


When  Benjamin  Randall  and  others  united  as  a  church 
one  hundred  years  ago,  that  germ  of  the  denomination  was 
organized  in  the  interests  of  freedom.  Free  grace,  free  sal- 
vation, free  will  and  free  communion  were  the  peculiar  char- 
acteristics of  their  faith.  And  our  centennial  would  be  in- 
complete, did  we  not  allow  the  record  to  show  that  their 
love  of  freedom  was  afterwards  developed  as  the  times 
called  for  its  practical  application. 

For  half  a  century  Freewill  Baptists,  in  common  with  oth- 
ers, gave  little  attention  to  those  living  in  the  distance,  at 
home  or  abroad.  Their  first  care  was  to  establish  their  own 
existence,  and  help  their  neighbors  as  best  they  could. 
And  while  thus  employed,  they  did  not  realize  that  Ameri- 
can slavery  was  making  itself  permanently  secure  in  both 
Church  and  State.  More  than  2,000,000  of  human  beings 
were  then  held  as  chattel  property,  and  the  number  was  rap- 
idly increasing.  Those  men,  women  and  children  were 
bought  and  sold  like  cattle,  torn  away  from  kindred  and 
friends,  and  fed  and  clothed  as  the  interest  or  caprice  of 
owners  might  dictate.  They  were  driven  by  the  lash  to  their 
daily  tasks,  were  kept  in  ignorance,  and  had  "  no  rights  that 
white  men  were  bound  to  respect." 

Such  was  slavery  when  the  clarion  voice  of  Garrison  start- 
led the  nation  in  1830,  with  this  announcement :  '■'^Immedi- 
ate Effiancipatioti  is  the  tight  of  the  slave  ami  the  duty  of 


192  Centennial  Record. 

the  master.^''  The  attention  of  our  people  being  called  to 
this  subject,  the  investigation  was  short  but  conclusive. 
Their  fondly  cherished  principles  of  God's  free  grace  and 
man's  free  will  did  not  allow  them  to  long  occupy  any 
doubtful  position  on  the  question  of  human  freedom.  A 
large  number  in  both  the  ministry  and  the  laity  at  once 
accepted  the  anti-slavery  platform  as  right,  and  the  advocacy 
of  its  principles  as  a  duty. 

The  American  Anti-slavery  Society  was  organized  in 
Dec,  1833,  and  for  once  only  did  "The  Morning  Star" 
speak  in  a  tone  of  half-suppressed  utterance.  It  soon  took 
a  bold  and  unflinching  position  on  the  side  of  freedom,  and 
there  did  it  stand  till  slavery  went  down.  In  June,  1834, 
the  New  Hampshire  Yearly  Meeting  endorsed  its  position, 
and  recommended  it  to  the  patronage  of  all  "  brethren  and 
friends."  The  same  year,  now  46  years  ago,  a  clergyman 
in  the  Farmington  Quarterly  Meeting,  in  Maine,  gave  no- 
tice that  he  should  introduce  anti-slavery  resolutions  at  the 
next  session.  Others  besought  him  to  do  no  such  thing,  as 
it  would  do  no  good,  and  would  probably  result  in  great 
evil.  The  resolutions  were  introduced,  and  a  brother  minis- 
ter went  forty  miles  to  help  defend  them.*  After  a  long, 
earnest,  Christian  discussion,  they  were  adopted  with  only 
one  or  two  dissenting  votes.  In  March  following,  the 
Rockinghafn  Q.  M.,  in  New  Hampshire, 

Resolved,  That  we  will,  as  Christians  and  Christian  ministers,  use  our 
influence  to  promote  the  doctrine  of  immediate  emancipation;  in  doing 
which  \vc  wish  to  treat  the  oppressor  and  the  oppressed  in  the  spirit  of  the 
gospel. 

The  speeches  at  the  New  Hampshire  Anti-slavery  Society 
in  June,  1835,  ^^'^''^  reported  in  "  The  Morning  Star,"  and  that 
encouraged   abolitionists   while    it   exasperated   pro-slavery 

*Rev.  John  Chaney  introduced  the  resolutions,  and  Rev.  Silas  Curtis  de- 
fended them. 


Anti-slavcry.  193 

men.  Ten  days  later  the  New  Hampshire  Yearly  Meeting 
convened  at  Sugar  Hill,  Lisbon,  a  rich  farming  town  above 
the  mountains.  Our  first  missionary  elect  to  India,  and  one 
to  the  West  were  to  be  then  ordained ;  and  Rev.  Dr.  Cox, 
of  London,  and  Rev.  Amos  Sutton,  returned  English  mis- 
sionary from  India,  were  advertised  to  be  there.  These  ex- 
pectations called  out  unusual  numbers  from  all  parts  of  the 
Granite  State,  and  both  Maine  and  Vermont  were  largely 
represented.  In  that  great  meeting,  full  of  missionary  inter- 
est, the  poor  slave  was  not  forgotten.  Rev.  David  Marks 
arose,  holding  a  paper  in  his  hand,  and  said  : 

Brother  Moderator  : — It  is  entirely  proper  for  this 
Yearly  Meeting  to  speak  in  behalf  of  the  Africans  who  have 
a  natural  right  to  freedom.  By  the  law  of  God  also,  they 
are  free.  But  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  God  have  been  vio- 
lated ;  and  the  great  Lawgiver  has  said,  "  He  that  stealeth  a 
man  and  selleth  him,  or  if  he  be  found  in  his  hand,  he  shall 
surely  be  put  to  death."  The  Church  in  America  is  guilty  of 
the  sin  of  slaveholding,  because  she  has  never  come  up  and 
borne  a  firm  and  united  testimony  against  it.  Men  tell  us  to 
be  still,  and  wait  a  more  favorable  opportunity.  We  have 
been  still  for  a  half  century,  until  half  a  million  of  slaves 
have  increased  to  two  and  a  half  millions.  No,  brethren,  we 
must  not  be  still ;  we  must  wash  our  hands  from  the  guilt  of 
this  sin ;  we  must  preach  and  pray  and  labor  to  have  slav- 
ery abo-lished  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  its  principles 
condemned  throughout  the  Christian  Church. 

He  then  read  and  moved  the  adoption  of  this  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  principles  of  immediate  abolition  are  derived  from 
the  unerring  Word  of  God ;  and  that  no  political  circumstances  whatever 
can  exonerate  Christians  from  exerting  all  their  moral  influence  for  the  sup- 
pression of  this  heinous  sin. 

Rev,  Jonathan  Woodman  said  : 

I  agree  with  brother  Marks  that  the  church  is  guilty  of 
the  sin  of  slavery,  and  it  becomes  us  to  wash  the  stain  away. 
There  is  a  God  who  will  take  the  part  of  the  oppressed.* 


194  Centennial  Record. 

He  did  in  Egypt  and  he  will  in  America.  He  will  scourge 
us  for  our  sins,  and  I  have  long  trembled  for  my  country, 
while  I  have  remembered  that  God  is  just.  Do  men  ask, 
"What  can  we  do?"  We  can  do  away  with  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  We  can  pour  in  our  memorials  till 
the  floors  of  Congress  shall  groan  under  the  weight  of  our 
appeals.  The  South  will  not  stir,  New  England  must.  I 
second  the  resolution. 

These  extracts  show  the  position  of  the  speakers,  who 
were  followed  by  others,  and  the  resolution  was  unanimous- 
ly adopted.  Similar  resolutions  were  adopted  in  Maine, 
Vermont,  Rhode  Island  and  New  York,  but  the  actual  com- 
mitment of  the  denomination  to  the  anti-slavery  cause  was 
at  the  General  Conference  in  Byron,  N.  Y.,  in  October  fol- 
lowing, when  representatives  from  every  Yearly  Meeting 
were  present,  and  after  a  free  and  full  discussion  it  was 
unanimously 

Resolved,  That  slavery  is  an  unjust  infringement  on  the  rights  of  the 
slaves ;  an  unwarrantable  exercise  of  power  on  the  part  of  the  master ;  a 
potent  enemy  to  the  happiness  and  morals  of  our  slaveholding  population ; 
and,  if  continued,  must  ultimately  result  in  the  ruin  of  our  country. 

Surprised  at  the  entire  unanimity  with  which  this  and  oth- 
er resolutions  were  adopted,  the  Conference  immediately 

Resolved,  That  we  have  abundant  cause  for  gratitude  to  God,  that  as  a 
denomination,  we  are  so  generally  united  in  our  views  on  the  distracting 
subject  of  slavery. 

All  this  action  may  seem  very  natural  and  easy  to  those 
who  know  not  the  pro-slavery  spirit  of  those  perilous  times. 
But  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  American  Anti-slavery 
Society  then  had  sixty  lecturers  in  the  field,  who  were  carry- 
ing light  and  truth  all  through  the  North.  Conviction  was 
at  work,  and  every  week  Christian  ministers  and  laymen, 
philanthropic  men  and  women  were  openly  declaring  their 
'opposition  to  slavery.     And  for  an  entire  denomination  to 


Anti-slavery,  195 

do  this  in  advance  of  all  others,  was  too  much  for  endur- 
ance. Slaveholders  became  alarmed,  and  in  their  exaspera- 
tion indicted  abolitionists,  offered  bounties  for  their  heads, 
and  threatened  them  with  the  halter  if  found  in  the  South. 
They  called  upon  business  men  of  the  North  to  stop  this  ag- 
itation, or  lose  all  their  profits  from  the  Southern  trade  ;  they 
called  upon  pohticians  to  stop  it,  or  see  the  defeat  of  their 
party ;  upon  State  legislatures  and  Congress  to  stop  it  by  le- 
gal enactments,  or  it  would  ruin  the  country  and  divide  the 
Union.  They  called  upon  Christian  men  in  the  North  to 
cease  their  agitation,  or  be  held  responsible  for  bloodshed 
and  insurrection ;  and  in  the  spirit  of  authority  over  free- 
men of  the  North  as  well  as  slaves  of  the  South,  they  called 
upon  all  men  everywhere  to  crush  the  abolition  movement. 

The  iron-willed  Jackson,  himself  a  slaveholder,  was  then  in 
the  presidential  chair,  and  exercised  his  full  power  in  up- 
holding slavery.  Congress  refused  the  right  of  petition,  and 
did  what  it  could  by  pro-slavery  legislation.  Courts  ruled 
in  the  interests  of  slavery,  and  popular  sentiment  sustained 
their  decision.  Political  papers  called  on  the  church-going 
people  to  "starve  out  the  negro  preachers,"  and  no  minis- 
ter could  allude  to  slavery  in  sermon  or  prayer  without  of- 
fending somebody.  Friends  became  alienated,  churches  di- 
vided, and  many  a  faithful  pastor  was  left  without  a  compe- 
tent support,  or  dismissed  on  short  notice. 

In  addition  to  this,  fearful  riots,  mobs  and  persecution 
now  began  their  dreadful  work,  and  from  1835  it  seemed  for 
three  years  as  if  Satan  was  unloosed.  Garrison  was  driven 
from  his  office  in  Boston  by  an  infuriated  mob,  rescued  by 
the  police  and  locked  up  in  jail  as  the  only  place  of  safety. 
Anti-slavery  meetings  were  broken  up,  audiences  dispersed, 
speakers  insulted,  arrested,  and  a  few  were  killed.  Anti-slav- 
ery presses  and  offices  were  demolished,  publications  de- 
stroyed and  a  reign  of  terror  was  inaugurated.     Such  were 


196  Centennial  Record. 

the  circumstances  under  which  those  true  and  fearless  men, 
— a  few  of  whom  are  still  living  witnesses  of  the  terrible 
struggle,  but  most  of  them  are  to-day  in  the  better  land — 
under  such  circumstances  did  they  put  themselves  and  the 
denomination  on  the  side  of  justice  and  right. 

To  present  more  definitely  the  triumph  of  principle  over 
IDolicy,  please  consider  a  few  specific  facts.  In  1S36  the 
Printing  Establishment  had  been  twice  refused  an  act  of  in- 
corporation, because  the  "Star"  was  an  abolition  paper; 
$15,000  were  due  for  our  publications,  and  many  persons 
refused  payment  unless  a  different  policy  was  adopted ;  ev- 
ery mail  brought  letters,  some  of  them  vile  and  abusive,  or- 
dering the  discontinuance  of  the  "  Star,"  because  of  its  abo- 
litionism, and  for  two  years  the  list  of  subscribers  was  con- 
stantly decreasing.  The  Trustees  were  then  personally  re- 
sponsible for  debts  amounting  to  $6,000,  and  it  was  a  time 
of  very  great  pecuniary  embarrassment.  Some  of  our  people 
were  fearful  of  an  utter  failure  of  the  Printing  Establishment, 
and  more  were  anxious  to  modify  the  utterances  of  the 
"  Star,"  so  as  to  avert  from  the  denomination  the  public  odi- 
um heaped  upon  abolitionists,  and  to  reconcile  the  disaf- 
fected members. 

A  crisis  had  come,  and  a  special  meeting  of  the  Trustees 
was  called.  The  discussion  of  the  question  continued 
through  the  day,  nor  did  it  cease  with  the  expiring  twilight. 
Through  the  livelong  night  they  considered  the  subject 
with  an  interest  equalled  only  by  the  consequences  that 
hung  upon  its  decision.  It  was  not  till  the  morning  light 
shone  in  upon  that  wakeful,  wrestling  board,  that  a  vote  was 
attempted.  The  question  was  then  submitted  :  "  Shall  '  The 
Morning  Star'  pursue  its  present  anti-slavery  course?" 
Every  answer  was  in  the  affirmative  save  one.  Righteous 
decision  !  And  the  exact  influence  of  it,  in  securing  the  fi- 
nal overthrow  of  slavery,  v/ill  not   be  fully   known  till  the 


Anti- slavery.  197 

great  day  when  all  secrets  will  be  revealed,  and  all  actions 
weighed  in  the  divine  balance. 

An  act  of  incorporation  for  the  Printing  Establishment 
was  first  asked  for  in  1835,  and  refused,  the  "  Dover 
Gazette  "  and  "  New  Hampshire  Patriot,"  two  leading  pa- 
pers in  the  interest  of  the  dominant  party,  said,  because  the 
"  Star  "  was  an  abolition  paper.  The  petition  was  annually 
renewed,  and  once  would  have  been  granted  with  this  pro- 
vision :  "  If  the  Trustees  of  said  corporation  shall  publish, 
or  cause  to  be  published  any  books,  tracts  or  pamphlets 
upon  the  subject  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  charter  shall 
be  void  ;  "  but  the  legislators  were  promptly  told  that  no 
such  charter  would  be  accepted.  After  ten  years  of  failure 
a  political  change  in  the  State  government  was  effected, 
largely  by  "The  Morning  Star"  and  Freewill  Baptist  influ- 
ence, and  in  1846  an  act  of  incorporation  was  given. 

For  several  years  an  act  of  incorporation  was  refused  to 
the  Home  Mission  Society,  lest,  as  was  then  said,  it  would 
send  forth  "missionaries  to  preach  abolitionism."  But  none 
of  these  things  moved  our  people  to  swerve  them  from  their 
rights  or  their  duty. 

In  1837  the  General  Conference 

Resolved,  That  slavery,  as  it  exists  in  this  country,  is  a  system  of  tyranny ; 
of  tyranny  more  cruel  and  wicked  than  the  oppression  and  wrong  practiced 
by  any  other  civilized  nation  in  the  known  world. 

But  the  next  Conference  at  Conneaut,  Ohio,  in  1839,  was 
one  of  surpassing  interest  on  the  slavery  question.  Four 
clergymen,  and  as  many  churches  from  New  Hampshire,  sent 
a  communication  complaining  of  the  anti-slavery  action  of 
the  Rockingham  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  the  political  charac- 
ter of  "  The  Morning  Star."  After  hearing  the  complainants, 
it  was  unanimously 

Resolved,  i.    That  this  Conference,  believing  the  anti-slavery  cause  to  be 


19S  Centennial  Record. 

the  cause  of  God,  recommends  to  every  Christian,  and  Christian  minister, 
to  use  all  proper  means  to  promote  its  interests. 

2.  That  this  Conference  highly  approves  the  decided  and  straightfor- 
ward course  of  "  The  Morning  Star  "  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 

Dr.  William  M.  Howsley,  a  licensed  preacher  from  Ken- 
tucky, came  to  the  Conference,  united  with  the  church  in 
Conneaut,  and  proposed  to  receive  ordination  at  the  hands 
of  Conference,  giving  the  assurance  that  at  least  twenty 
thousand  members  would  be  secured  to  the  denomination 
from  free-communion  Baptists  in  the  South.  His  Christian 
experience  and  the  examination  were  satisfactory,  till  it 
was  ascertained  that  he  was  a  slaveholder.  He  acknowl- 
edged slavery  to  be  "  a  great  moral  evil,  a  scourge  and 
a  curse,"  but  declined  to  give  freedom  to  a  mother  and 
her  three  children,  even  when  men  offered  to  put  them- 
selves under  bonds  to  give  them  three  years  of  education, 
and  otherwise  provide  for  their  comfort  and  usefulness. 
Men  in  Conference  and  out  of  it  began  to  take  sides, 
and  the  interest  became  intense.  As  the  session  opened  the 
next  morning,  a  crowded  house  was  anxiously  waiting  for  the 
report  of  the  council.  The  report  was  short,  clear  and  de- 
cisive, in  these  words  :  "  As  Dr.  Howsley  claims  property  in 
human  beings,  we  can  not  ordain  him  as  a  minister,  nor  fel- 
lowship him  as  a  Christian."  The  discussion  that  followed 
was  generally  calm,  but  intensely  interesting  and  sometimes 
exciting.  The  best  speaking  talent  of  Conference  was  called 
into  exercise,  others  not  members,  ministers  of  other  de- 
nominations, lawyers  and  all  who  desired  to  speak  were 
kindly  heard.  When  the  vote  was  finally  taken  the  report 
was  unanimously  adopted.  And  in  that  vote  perished  all 
the  bright  hopes  of  accessions  from  the  South. 

The  free-communion  Baptist  churches  of  North  and 
South  Carolina  were  in  fellowship  with  the  Freewill  Baptists 
of  the  North,  slavery  excepted ;  and  the  same  Conference 


Anti-slavery.  199 

that  could  not  ordain  or  welcome  a  slaveholder  from  Ken- 
tucky, did  not  care  to  continue  fellowship  with  the  5,000 
from  Carolina,  with  their  adherence  to  slavery ;  and  so  they 
were  no  longer  acknowledged.  It  was  a  bold  and  unprece- 
dented act  for  a  denomination  in  that  day,  to  thus  cut  itself 
off  from  all  connection  with  slavery,  but  such  men  are  the 
stuff  of  which  heroes  are  made,  and  it  is  our  centennial  joy 
that  neither  hope  nor  fear,  flatteries  nor  frowns,  worldly  favor 
nor  public  scorn  could  divert  them  from  their  convictions 
of  right  and  duty.  And  to-day  it  is  our  pleasure  to  pay  our 
predecessors  this  high  tribute  of  honor,  and  say,  while  too 
many  Christians  and  churches  would  vary  with  the  changing 
winds  of  public  opinion,  and  box  the  compass  in  changing 
their  time-ser\dng  policy,  our  fathers,  like  the  needle  to  the 
pole,  had  a  fidelity  to  liberty  and  liberty's  God  that  was 
steadfast  and  persevering. 

The  hosts  of  freedom  were  now  everywhere  marshaling 
for  the  conflict,  and  in  their  steady  advance,  slaveholders 
saw,  as  never  before,  the  peril  of  their  "peculiar  institution." 
Their  condition  was  becoming  one  of  desperation,  and  their 
pliant  tools  in  the  North  hastened  to  their  rescue.  Politi- 
cians and  divines  transferred  to  the  Bible  as  its  basis,  this  in- 
fernal institution,  all  drenched  in  the  blood  of  its  victims, 
and  vocal  with  their  groans.  They  claimed  for  American 
slavery  patriarchal  authority,  called  it  a  divine  institution 
and  charged  abolitionists  with  the  guilt  of  fighting  against 
God.  To  rebuke  this  impious  audacity,  the  General  Con- 
ference at  Topsham,  Maine,  in  1841, 

Resolved,  That  we  look  upon  the  attempt  to  impute  slavery  to  the  Script- 
ures, as  moral  treason  against  God's  Holy  Word ;  tending  directly  to  the 
overthrow  of  all  confidence  in  the  Bible,  and  to  make  infidels  of  the  rising 
generation. 

Three  years  later  it  was 

Resolved,  That  this  Conference  believes  it  to  be  the  duty  of  all  Christian 
voters  to  act  on  anti-slavery  principles  at  the  ballot-box. 


200  Centennial  Record. 

At  the  Anniversaries  in  1842,  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  draft  a  constitution,  and  at  the  New  Hampshire  Yearly 
Meeting  in  June,  1843,  at  Lisbon,  the  Freewill  Baptist  Anti- 
slavery  Society  was  organized,  with  Rev.  Jonathan  Wood- 
man as  president.  For  twenty-five  years  this  Society  did 
valiant  service  in  keeping  the  slavery  question  fresh  before 
the  people,  and  the  reports  of  the  Secretary  and  the  address- 
es at  the  anniversaries  usually  awakened  a  thrilling  interest. 
And  not  till  the  vile  system  was  abolished  by  constitutional 
amendment  did  the  Society  vote  for  dissolution. 

The  pro-slavery  efforts  of  Congress  reached  a  climax  in 
1850,  in  the  enactment  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  It  au- 
thorized the  slaveholder,  or  his  agent,  to  go  into  any  State  in 
the  Union,  and  seize  the  fugitive  from  slavery,  and  remand 
the  helpless  victim  into  hopeless  bondage.  It  also  said, 
"  All  good  citizens  are  hereby  commanded  to  aid  and  assist 
in  the  prompt  and  efficient  execution  of  this  law."  In  just 
fourteen  days  after  this  enactment  the  General  Conference 
convened  at  Providence,  R.  I.  Soon  after  it  was  organized, 
a  minister  of  Him  who  came  "  to  preach  deliverance  to  the 
captives,"  one  who  was  himself  a  fugitive,  and  yet  pastor  of 
one  of  our  churches  in  the  city,  inquired  if  Conference 
would  approve  the  purpose  of  the  fugitives  to  defend  them- 
selves against  the  kidnappers,  then  supposed  to  be  in  the 
city.  The  scene  at  once  became  grandly  sublime.  Before 
those  Christian  men  stood  their  brother  in  the  ministry,  lia- 
ble any  hour  to  be  torn  from  his  family,  his  friends  and  the 
people  of  his  charge,  as  one  had  been  in  the  city  of  New 
York  a  few  days  before,  and  they  themselves  were  liable  to 
be  called  on  to  aid  in  his  arrest.  These  facts  called  forth 
such  outbursts  of  sympathy  and  indignation  as  no  written 
words  can  express.  After  an  hour  or  more  of  spontaneous 
combustion,  the  subject  was  referred  to  the  committee  on 
slavery.     When  the  day  and  hour  for  the  report  arrived,  the 


Anti-slavery.  201 

large  house  was  densely  crowcled.  The  report  specified  the 
features  of  the  law  most  disgraceful  to  the  nation,  wicked  to 
man  and  insulting  to  God,  and  closed  with  three  resolutions, 
of  which  this  is  the  first : 

Resolved,  That  we  deliberately  and  calmly,  yet  earnestly  and  decidedly 
deny  any  and  all  obligation  on  our  part  to  submit  to  the  unrighteous  enact- 
ment of  the  aforesaid  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  Also,  that,  regardless  of  un- 
just human  enactment,  fines  and  imprisonment,  we  will  do  all  that  we  can, 
consistently  with  the  claims  of  the  Bible,  to  prevent  the  recapture  of  the  fu- 
gitive, and  to  aid  him  in  his  efforts  to  escape  from  his  rapacious  claimants. 

This  report  was  discussed  for  nearly  four  hours,  by  men 
from  eight  or  ten  different  States,  and  unanimously  adopted. 
In  Ohio,  eleven  years  before,  we  saw  some  of  the  anti-slav- 
ery heroes  of  the  denomination  ;  but  here,  in  Rhode  Island, 
we  see  the  heroic  spirit  and  unbending  principle  of  Chris- 
tian martyrs. 

"  Remember  them  that  are  in  bonds  as  bound  with  them," 
is  an  injunction  that  Freewill  Baptists  did  not  forget.  As 
Christians  they  prayed  and  talked  for  the  oppressed,  and  as 
citizens  they  largely  voted  in  their  behalf.  A  few  of  them 
began  with  James  G.  Birney  in  1840,  and  the  number  annu- 
ally increased  till  i860,  when  the  masses  of  our  people  aid- 
ed in  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln, —  a  name  too  dear 
and  sacred  to  slip  from  a  flippant  tongue.  Then  came  the 
rebellion.  And  when  further  efforts,  and  concessions,  and 
compromises  were  urged  to  conciliate  the  rebels,  there  was 
one  denomination  whose  record  and  principles  would  not  al- 
low it  to  unite  in  any  agreement  that  would  perpetuate  slav- 
ery ;  and  all  that  its  members  could  do  was  to  pray  God  to 
prosper  the  right.  And  when  the  war  began,  and  during  its 
progress,  fifty-eight  of  our  able-bodied  ministers,  and  two 
hundred  and  ten  Q)i  owx  ministers'  sons  volunteered  in  their 
country's  defense  ;  and  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  all  others, 
by  patriotic  preaching,  praying  and  sympathy  with  the  sol- 


202  Centennial  Record. 

diers  in  the  field  and  their  disconsolate  families  at  home,  did 
good  service  in  the  Union  cause. 

When  the  slaves  began  to  come  within  the  lines  of  our 
army  for  protection,  we  contributed  to  their  support  as  they 
were  sent  to  the  rear.  And  when  the  Emancipation  Proc- 
lamation was  issued,  Jan.  i,  1S63,  old  people  and  children 
wept  and  rejoiced  together,  that  the  year  of  Jubilee  had 
come.  The  Home  Mission  Board  at  once  established  mis- 
sion schools  among  the  freedmen,  and  during  the  next  six 
years  sent  out  sixty-six  different  persons,  pious  and  well-ed- 
ucated, as  teachers,  and  thirty-three  ministers  as  missiona- 
ries and  teachers,  at  an  expense  of  $40,000.  In  the  aggre- 
gate, two  hundred  and  twenty-nine  years  of  instruction  and 
missionary  service  were  thus  given  to  the  recently  emanci- 
pated slaves,  and  Storer  college  is  a  grand  monument  of  our 
continued,  interest  in  behalf  of  the  colored  people,  who  are 
represented  in  this  centennial  Conference  by  three  of  their 
number. 

Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  in  her  "  Sunny  Memories  of 
Foreign  Lands,"  Oliver  Johnson,  in  his  "  Life  of  Garrison," 
and  others  have  acknowledged  the  efficient  service  of  the 
Freewill  Baptists  in  securing  the  abolition  of  slavery.  And 
the  complimentary  letters  just  read,  from  such  men  as  Samu- 
el E.  Sewall,  Wendell  Phillips,  Samuel  May,  Gov.  D.  F.  Dav- 
is, James  A.  Garfield,  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  and  Frederick 
Douglas,  are  acknowledgments  enough  of  our  influential  ac- 
tion in  the  anti-slavery  cause.  But  in  this  statement  of  facts 
we  present  no  claims  for  service  performed,  nor  do  we  seek 
for  commendation.  We  only  record  the  truths  of  history, 
and  are  content  Avith  this,  and  the  fact  that 

"  Jehovah  has  triumphed,  his  people  are  free." 


PUBLICATIONS. 


When  the  art  of  printing  was  invented  four  hundred  years 
ago,  there  was  no  conception  of  the  great  work  it  was  des- 
tined to  accompHsh.  It  enhghtens  the  pubhc  mind,  gives 
direction  to  pubhc  thought  and  opinion  and  awakens  new 
hfe-and  enterprise  wherever  it  has  been  introduced.  Only 
books  and  important  manuscripts  were  printed  for  many 
years,  and  the  first  weekly  newspaper  was  established  in 
England,  two  years  after  the  Pilgrim  fathers  landed  in 
America.  "  The  Boston  News  Letter,"  the  first  permanent 
journal  in  America,  was  established  in  1704. 

Religious  newspapers  are  of  more  recent  date.  The  Con- 
gregationalists  began  the  publication  of  "  The  Boston  Record- 
er "in  18 1 5,  the  Baptists  commenced  a  paper,  now  "  The 
Watchman,"  in  1820,  and  the  Methodists  issued  the  first 
number  of  "Zion's  Herald  "  in  1823.  Three  years  later,  in 
1826,  the  Freewill  Baptists  commenced  the  publication  of 
"  The  Morning  Star." 

Books  and  papers  were  few  and  expensive  one  hundred 
years  ago.  The  first  publication  in  the  interests  of  the  de- 
nomination was  the  reprint  of  Henry  Allen's  "Two  Mites," 
in  1784.  Mr.  Allen  came  into  Maine  as  a  New  Light 
preacher  from  Nova  Scotia,  and  brought  with  him  a  book  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  pages,  written  by  himself.  It  was  a 
discussion  of  several  theological  questions,  and  was  almost 
the  only  anti-Calvinistic  book,  save  the  Bible,  to  which  our 
people  had  access. 


204  Centennial  Record. 

The  next  publication  was  a  sermon  by  Rev.  Benjamin 
Randall  in  1803.  It  was  preached  at  the  death  of  a  child, 
and  afterwards  prepared  for  the  press,  the  third  edition  hav- 
ing been  recently  published. 

"A  Religious  Magazine,"  of  thirty-six  pages,  was  published 
quarterly  by  Rev.  John  Buzzell,  of  North  Parsonsfield,  Me., 
commencing  in  1811,  and  was  continued  in  1812,  '20,  '21 
and  '22.  It  was  filled  with  historical,  biographical  and  de- 
nominational intelligence. 

About  the  commencement  of  the  year  18 15,  Rev.  John 
Colby  published  a  journal  of  his  life,  embracing  nearly 
twenty-seven  years.  After  his  death  five  other  editions  of  his 
entire  life  were  published,  and  found  a  large  and  ready  sale. 

In  1819  Rev.  Ebenezer  Chase,  then  of  Andover,  N.  H., 
commenced  the  monthly  publication  of  "The  Religious  In- 
former," a  magazine  of  sixteen  pages,  and  continued  it  for 
eight  years.  It  was  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  Free- 
will Baptists,  and  its  record  of  facts,  cheering  intelligence, 
means  of  acquaintance,  source  of  instruction  and  its  mold- 
ing influence  were  in  the  highest  degree  beneficial.  "  Buz- 
zell's  Hymn  Book "  of  three  hundred  and  forty-seven 
"psalms,  hymns  and  spiritual  songs  "  was  published  in  1823 ; 
and  "The  Freewill  Baptist  Register"  was  commenced  in 
1825,  by  Rev.  Samuel  Burbank,  of  Limerick,  Me. 

"the  morning  star." 

In  1825  Revs.  John  Buzzell,  Samuel  Burbank  and  Elias 
Libby,  all  of  western  Maine,  devised  a  plan  for  the  publica- 
tion of  a  religious  weekly  paper,  and  consulted  the  Parsons- 
field  Qiuirterly  Meeting  on  the  subject.  After  much  deliber- 
ation and  many  prayers,  nine  men  were  found  ready  to  unite 
in  the  enterprise.  Their  names  were  Henry  Hobbs,  Jona- 
than Woodman,  John  Buzzell,  Samuel  Burbank,  Elias  Libby, 


Publications.  20 1; 

Andrew  Hobson,  Joseph  Hobson,  Mark  Hill  and  William  M. 
Davidson. 

They  issued  a  prospectus  Jan.  2,  1826,  and  Feb.  4  they 
were  legally  organized  under  the  name  of  "  Hobbs,  Wood- 
man &  Co."  Rev.  John  BuzzeU  was  more  extensively  known 
in  the  denomination  than  any  other  man,  was  an  able  and  el- 
oquent preacher,  had  published  a  magazine,  hymn  book, 
&c.,  and  consequently  was  chosen  senior  editor,  though  he 
lived  six  miles  from  the  place  of  publication.  Samuel  Bur- 
bank,  the  author  of  "The  Freewill  Baptist  Register,"  was 
chosen  office  editor  and  agent,  and  William  Burr,  then  nine- 
teen years  of  age,  came  from  Boston  as  printer,  and  the  first 
number  of  "The  Morning  Star"  was  issued  at  Limerick  Me 
May  II,   1826. 

The  circulation  at  first  was  about  four  hundred,  and  it 
gradually  increased;  only  six  subscribers  had  discontinued 
the  paper  at  the  commencement  of  the  second  volume  The 
price  of  the  "Star"  was  then  ^1.50  per  year,  and  with  the 
postage  added  it  was  $2.02,  or  $2.25  if  sent  over  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  or  out  of  the  State,  while  the  present 
pnce  IS  only  $2.00  postage  included,  and  the  paper  is  more 
than  three  times  the  size  of  the  original  sheet. 

THE   BOOK   CONCERN. 

In  just  five  years  to  a  day,  after  the  issue  of  the  first  num- 
ber of  the  "Star,"  appeared  in  its  columns  the  first  article 
advocating  the  establishment  of  a  denominational  Book  Con- 
cern. Other  articles  followed,  and  at  the  General  Confer- 
ence m  Wilton,  Me.,  in  1831,  the  question  was  carefully  con- 
sidered and  cautiously  approved.  Rev.  David  Marks  con- 
sented to  act  as  agent,  with  Henry  Hobbs,  Samuel  Burbank 
and  Wilham  Burr  as  an  Advisory  Committee.  The  agent  be- 
came personally  responsible  for  all  contracts  in  the  publica- 
tion and  sale  of  books,  and  during  the  first  year  published 


2o6  Centennial  Record. 

2,500  copies  of  the  Minutes  of  the  last  Conference,  7,000 
copies  of  the  "  Christian  Melody,"  5,000  copies  of  the  "  Reg- 
ister," 1,000  copies  of  Cavemo's  "Address  on  Temperance,' 
and  2,000  copies  of  the  "Character  of  Christ,"  by  J.  G. 
Pike,  at  a  total  expense  of  $4,000. 

At  the  next  Conference,  in  1832,  all  were  pleased  with  the 
enterprise  and  success  of  David  Marks  as  Book  Agent,  and 
he  continued  to  be  re-appointed  till  1835,  when  he  resigned, 
having  given  four  years  of  his  life  to  the  permanent  establish- 
ment of  our  publication  interests,  with  but  little  compensa- 
tion, less  than  $900  in  all,  for  his  service,  care,  risk  and  re- 
sponsibilities of  $14,000  of  original  debts. 

CHANGES    IN  THE   "  STAR "    AND   ITS  MANAGEMENT. 

Five  times  has  the  "Star"  been  enlarged,  first  in  1828, 
when  its  subscription  list  was  twelve  hundred  and  fifty,  and  the 
last  time  in  1868,  when  it  took  the  quarto  fonn.     In  1832  the 
proprietors  offered  to  sell  their  interest  to  the  denommation, 
and  the  General  Conference  at  Meredith,  N.  H.,  "  Agreed  that 
the  Book  Agent  and  the  Publishing  Committee  be  advised  to 
purchase  the  establishment  of  'The  Morning  Star'  on  the 
terms  the  proprietors  have  proposed,"  and  added,  on  condi- 
tion the  purchase  be  made,  "to  them  shall  belong  the  whole 
management   of  the   establishment   for   the  ensuing   year. 
Not  a  dollar  was  provided  for  the  purchase,  and  no  habilities 
were  assumed.      David  Marks,  as  Book  Agent,  and  Heriry 
Hobbs,  Samuel  Beede,  WilUam  Burr,  Hosea  Quinby,  Silas 
Curtis  and  Daniel  P.  Cilley,  as  Publishing  Committee,  as- 
sumed the  entire  responsibility  of  paying  $3,700  for  the  prop- 
erty     No  change  was  made  in  the  editorial  or  financial  man- 
agement of  the  "  Star,"  but  a  new  interest  was  awakened,  and 
the  subscription  list  increased  during  the  year  from  1,600  to 
2  700      The  senior  editor  never  did  more  than  to  furnish  oc- 
casional articles,  and  wrote  little  after  the  first  six  years.     In 


Publications.  207 

1833,  after  seven  years  of  faithful  service  in  the  editorial 
chair,  Rev,  Samuel  Burbank  resigned,  and  Samuel  Beede,  a 
scholarly  young  man  who  had  been  employed  in  the  Book 
Concern,  became  his  successor;  and  the  General  Confer- 
ence in  Strafford,  Vermont,  recommended  that  "The  Morn- 
ing Star"  be  removed  to  Dover,  N.  H.,  and  the  change  was 
soon  effected.  In  March  following  Beede  died,*  and  William 
Burr  became  the  acting  editor  as  well  as  office  agent. 

In  1S35  David  Marks  resigned  as  publishing  agent;  the 
"Star"  and  the  Book  Concern  were  then  united,  eleven 
Trustees  were  chosen  to  manage  the  Establishment,  and  Wil- 
liam Burr  was  appointed  financial  agent  and  "  resident  edi- 
tor." The  indebtedness  of  the  united  enterprises  was 
$6,222.48,  and  for  three  years  ineffectual  efforts  were  made 
to  secure  a  loan  of  $5,000  by  dividing  the  assets  into  one 
hundred  shares  of  $50  each,  and  offering  them  as  security. 
Then  came  the  financial  crisis,  and  the  remaining  half  of  the 
loan  could  not  be  obtained  on  any  terms.  About  the  same 
time  began  the  cniel  pressure  against  the  "  Star  "  because  of 
its  position  against  slavery,  and  the  doubtful  question  was, 
will  it  survive  or  perish?  The  denomination  generally,  and 
the  Lord  especially,  encouraged  and  sustained  the  manage- 
ment, so  that  in  1844  the  Establishment  was  out  of  debt,  had 
a  small  balance  of  cash  on  hand,  owned  one  half  of  the 
building  in  which  its  work  was  done,  and  the  net  valuation  of 
its  property  was  $14,000.  Then  commenced  those  large  ap- 
propriations of  $1,500  annually  to  benevolent  purposes,  in 
addition  to  some  larger,  and  many  smaller,  donations. 

In  1846  the  Establishment  was  incorporated,  and  in  1866 
Mr.  Burr  was  suddenly  called  to  his  eternal  reward.  Then 
did  the  people  mourn  the  loss  of  a  good  man,  who  had  been 
the  controlling  spirit  in  the  office  for  more  than  forty  years. 
Rev.  George  T.  Day  was  chosen  editor,  and  Silas  Curtis,  for  a 
time,  and  L.  R.  Burlingame  afterwards  were  chosen  publishers. 


2o8  Ce7itennial  Record. 

The  General  Conference  in  Buffalo  in  1868  provided  for  a 
division  of  the  funds  and  the  establishment  of  a  central  pa- 
per between  the  locations  of  "  The  Morning  Star  "  and  "  The 
Christian  Freeman."  The  "Star"  had  an  office  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  during  the  year  1870,  and  Rev.  G.  H.  Ball  was 
editor  and  agent  there.  I.  D.  Stewart  succeeded  L.  R.  Bur- 
lingame  as  a^ent  in  1873,  and  in  1875  Dr.  Day  passed  away 
from  earthly  toil,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  assistant,  George 
F.  Mosher. 

"the  christian  freeman." 

A  Western  Convention  was  held  at  Chicago,  111.,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Western  Anniversaries,  Dec.  7,  1866,  to 
consider  the  propriety  of  establishing  a  Western  paper.  Prof. 
H.  E.  Whipple  was  chosen  Chairman,  and  Rev.  A.  H.  Hul- 
ing  Secretary.  Revs.  G.  S.  Bradley,  F.  P.  Augir,  A.  H. 
Chase,  G.  P.  Blanchard  and  J.  E.  Davis  were  chosen  a  com- 
mittee to  consider  and  report  action  for  the  convention. 
The  following  resolution,  with  others,  after  a  free  and  full 
discussion,  was  adopted  without  opposition  : 

Whereas  for  a  number  of  years  there  has  been  a  growing  interest  in 
favor  of  a  Western  Free  Baptist  newspaper,  located  at  some  central  point  in 
the  West,  therefere, 

Resolved,  That  we  believe  the  time  has  fully  come  to  establish  such  a 
paper. 

A  committee  of  seven  was  chosen  to  act  as  trustees  in  pro- 
curing an  act  of  incorporation  and  establishing  a  paper,  pro- 
vided 2,000  subscribers  can  be  obtained,  and  ^5,000  of 
stock  secured.  The  committee,  or  corporators,  were  G.  S. 
Bradley,  of  Wis.,  A.  H.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  D.  D.  Garland,  of 
111.,  R.  Dunn,  of  Mich.,  James  Calder,  of  Pa.,  H.  G.  Wood- 
worth,  of  111.  and  S.  F.  Smith,  of  Wis.  On  the  4th  of  April, 
1867,  the  first  number  of  "The  Christian  Freeman"  was 
issued  at  Chicago,  111.,  with  Rev.  D.  M.  Graham  as  Editor, 
and  Rev.  A.  H.  Chase  as  Publisher. 


Publications.  log 

The  paper  was  enlarged  and  printed  in  quarto  form  in 
1868.  Clianges  occurred  in  both  its  editorial  and  publish- 
ing departments,  and,  after  four  years  of  good  service,  as 
the  patronage  did  not  meet  the  expenses  of  publication,  it 
was  transferred  to  the  trustees  of  a  paper  to  be  established 
in  the  city  of  New  York. 

"the  baptist  union."* 

In  1868  the  General  Conference  held  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
voted  to  pay  out  of  the  funds  of  the  Printing  Establishment, 
on  certain  conditions,  ^12,000  to  aid  "The  Christian  Free- 
man," and  $10,000  to  aid  in  starting  a  paper  in  New  York. 
In  the  autumn  of  1870  the  managers  of  the  "Freeman" 
proposed  to  the  Trustees  having  the  project  of  a  paper  in 
New  York  in  charge,  to  unite  the  two  interests,  and  issue 
the  paper  in  New  York,  with  an  office  in  Chicago.  An  ar- 
rangement was  made  to  carry  out  this  plan,  and  a  committee 
chosen  by  the  two  corporations  to  execute  it,  with  the  sug- 
gestion, to  enhst  all  liberal  Baptists  in  the  enterprise,  so  far 
as  possible. 

A  meeting  of  the  joint  committee  was  promptly  held  in 
New  York,  and  leading  open  communionists  in  the  larger 
Baptist  body,  by  invitation,  participated.  It  was  there  de- 
cided that  the  paper  should  take  a  new  name,  and  so  far 
broaden  its  policy  as  to  advocate  the  cause  of  all  bodies  and 
sections  of  liberal  Baptists  and  labor  to  effect  a  union  among 
them  without  change  of  organization  or  names.  The  duty  of 
toleration,  the  allowance  of  diverse  methods,  and  to  a  degree 
of  diverse  beUefs,  was  to  be  urged  especially,  as  a  feature  of 
the  proposed  union  among  the  various  free-communion 
Baptist  bodies,  and  the  development  of  Hberal  sentiments  in 
the  larger  Baptist  body  was  to  be  vigorously  prosecuted, 


♦This  statement  was  prepared  by  the  editor  of  "  The  Baptist  Union." 


2IO  Centennial  Record. 

under  the  conviction  that  it  might  soon  become  so  po- 
tent as  to  change  the  policy  of  the  northern  portion  of  that 
body,  and  finally  open  the  way  to  a  union  between  them 
and  the  open-communion  bodies.  As  the  Free  Baptist  de- 
nomination was  the  largest  and  best  organized  among  open- 
communion  Baptist  bodies,  possessed  colleges,  schools 
and  mission  organizations,  it  was  to  be  the  policy  of  the  pa- 
per to  advocate  a  union  of  the  smaller  bodies  with  the 
Freewill  Baptist  General  Conference,  and  the  extension  of 
the  privileges  and  advantages  that  these  agencies  might 
bring  to  all  the  minor  bodies,  so  far  as  possible,  and  to  urge 
that  in  all  respects  the  several  bodies  should  be  regarded  as 
one  people,  one  denomination,  having  but  one  interest, 
though  locally  known  by  several  names.  This  paper  was 
to  offer  itself  as  the  organ  of  the  several  parties  it  aimed  to 
represent,  since  it  was  no  less  the  organ  of  either  because 
the  organ  of  all,  the  interest  of  all  being  so  closely  linked  to- 
gether. 

The  name  agreed  upon  was  "The  Baptist  Union,"  be- 
cause one  of  its  leading  purposes  was  to  promote  union 
among  Baptists.  But  it  was  also  to  devote  its  efforts  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  education,  missions,  church  extension, 
State  associations  for  special  service  and  all  good  works 
among  the  several  bodies  it  was  to  represent. 

On  this  basis  "The  Baptist  Union"  began  its  mission  on 
the  first  of  January,  1871,  and  prosecuted  it  until  sold  out 
to  the  Freewill  Baptist  Printing  Establishment  in  1876. 

Other  papers  have  had  a  temporary  existence  at  different 
times,  for  sundry  purposes,  by  various  persons,  in  aid  of  lo- 
cal, special,  general  or  conflicting  interests.  Prominent 
among  them  were  the  "  Repository,"  "  Disciple,"  "  Rum- 
seller's  Mirror,"  "Christian  Soldier,"  "Rose  and  Lily," 
"  Revivalist,"  "  Pure  Testimony,"  and  "  Gospel  Banner." 


Publications.  2i:i 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  PUBLICATIONS. 

The  Printing  Establishment  has  been  Uberal  in  its  efforts 
to  supply  Sunday-school  Uterature.  A  Catechism  for  chil- 
dren was  one  of  the  first  issues  of  the  Book  Concern. 
Pamphlets,  two  papers  issued  on  alternate  weeks, — "  The 
Myrde  "  and  "Tne  Little  Star" — question  books,  "Les- 
son Leaves,"  "  Notes  "  in  the  "  Star,"  a  "  Quarterly  "  and 
books  have  been  pubUshed  as  the  wants  of  the  people  have 
required.* 

THE   QUARTERLY. 

"  The  Freewill  Baptist  Magazine  "  was  a  quarterly  publi- 
cation, commenced  in  1839,  and  continued  three  years.  It 
served  a  useful  purpose,  but  did  not  meet  the  wants  of  those 
who  desired  a  more  literary  and  elaborate  work.  At  the  an- 
niversaries in  Great  Falls,  N.  H.,  1849,  the  purpose  to  es- 
tablish a  Quarterly  received  endorsement,  and  Rev.  George 
T.  Day  was  chosen  editor.  This  project  failed,  but  in  1853 
"  The  Freewill  Baptist  Quarterly "  made  its  appearance, 
through  the  efforts  of  A.  D.  WiUiams,  EH  Noyes,  G. 
T.  Day,  and  others,  Mr.  Williams  being  the  executive 
man.  Each  number  contained  120  pages,  and  for  three 
years  it  was  published  by  Williams,  Day  &  Co.  at  Provi- 
dence, R.  L,  and  then  it  was  pubHshed  by  the  Printing  Es- 
tablishment, Day,  Graham  and  Bowen  successively  acting  as 
editors.  It  was  published  for  seventeen  years,  and  did  more 
during  the  time  to  develop  intellectual  strength  and  denom- 
inational efficiency  than  any  pubUcation,  "The  Morning 
Star  "  alone  excepted. 

In  biography  there  have  been  issued  a  dozen  volumes  of 
various  sizes;  in  history  we  have  "Jones's  Church  History," 


*See  paper  on  Sunday  Schools,  pp.  173-175. 


212  Centennial  JRecord. 

"  History  of  the  Freewill  Baptists,"  ''  Memorials  of  Free 
Baptists,"  &c. ;  in  theology  there  are  the  "  Treatise,"  "  Di- 
vine Origin  of  Christianity,"  "  Free  Communionist,"  "  Man- 
ual on  the  Trinity,"  "  Butler's  Theology  "  and  in  addition  to 
the  above-named  books,  a  large  number  of  miscellaneous 
works.  So  far  as  can  now  be  ascertained,  the  whole  number 
of  bound  volumes  is  about  one  hundred,  the  whole  number 
of  different  publications  of  a  denominational  character,  is- 
sued by  individuals  or  the  Printing  Establishment,  including 
all,  from  bound  volumes  to  tracts,  is  about  six  hundred  and 
seventy. 

At  the  close  of  this  book  will  be  found,  among  the  Tables, 
a  list  of  our  publications. 


^^.C^^LyCL      ^XytyV^t^n^^^^A^^ 


EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS. 


PARSONSFIELD   SEMINARY. 

The  first  school  founded  by  members  of  the  Freewill  Bap- 
tist denomination  was  Parsonsfield  Seminary,  in  Maine, 
which  was  incorporated  in  1832.  Rev.  John  Buzzell  was 
chosen  President,  which  office  he  held  until  his  death.  The 
first  building  was  erected  in  1832  and  was  burned  in  1854. 
A  boarding  house  was  built  in  1854.  The  grounds  are  am- 
ple and  the  location  pleasant.  The  Seminary  originated 
in  a  desire  for  a  denominational  school  of  high  grade.  Rev, 
John  Buzzell  labored  zealously  for  its  establishment  and  it 
received  at  once  a  generous  support.  It  was  commended  to 
the  patronage  of  the  denomination  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence in  1832. 

Rev.  Hosea  Quinby,  d.  d.,  was  Principal  during  the  first 
seven  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  John  Fullonton,  d. 
D.,  who  remained  there  three  years.  Rev.  O.  B.  Cheney,  d. 
D.,  was  Principal  for  one  year ;  Prof.  G.  H.  Ricker,  from 
1846  to  1853;  Rev.  J.  A,  Lowell,  from  1854  to  1856,  and 
Prof.  Geo.  S.  Bradley  for  several  years  thereafter.  Then  fol- 
lowed a  period  of  depression  during  a  part  of  which  the 
school  was  closed,  and  when  in  session  was  taught  by  sev- 
eral different  persons.  The  present  Principal,  Rev.  T.  F. 
Millett,  assumed  the  charge  of  tlae  school  in  1878,  and  it  is 
now  enjoying  a  good  degree  of  prosperity.  It  is  the  aim  of 
those  now  in  control  of  its  affairs  to  carry  out  the  intentions 


214  Centennial  Record. 

of  the  founders  and  to  bring  the  school  up  to  its  fornicr  pop- 
ularity and  usefulness, 

A  large  number  of  our  prominent  ministers,  in  New  Eng- 
land, have  been  students  in  this  school  and  its  influence  has 
been  felt  in  all  parts  of  our  denomination.* 

AUSTIN     ACADEMY. 

This  school  was  first  known  as  Strafford  Academy.  The 
building  was  erected  in  1833;  the  first  term  of  school  was 
in  the  spring  of  1834,  under  the  instruction  of  Joshua  D. 
Berry.  The  school  was  started  by  the  churches  of  the  New 
Durham  Quarterly  Meeting,  but  that  body  not  being  able  to 
act  in  corporate  capacity,  the  institution  was  incorporated  in 
the  name  of  the  proprietors.  Afterwards  it  went  into  the 
hands  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  which  held  it  by  trustees  of  its 
nomination.  Under  this  arrangement  the  school  was  pros- 
perous for  several  years ;  scholars  came  to  it  from  far  and 
near,  and  it  maintained  a  high  rank  among  the  schools  of 
the  day. 

In  184S,  a  reorganization  took  place,  and  the  institution 
was  incorporated  anew  under  the  name  of  Strafford  Semina- 
ry. This  organization  continued  quite  successful  till  1866 
when  the  Rev.  Daniel  Austin,  of  Portsmouth,  offered  to  en- 
dow the  school  with  ^5,000  if  the  trustees  would  honor  him 
by  changing  the  name  to  Austin  Academy.  This  change 
was  accordingly  made  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature.  Under 
this  title  it  has  continued  and  bids  fair  to  continue  in  suc- 
cessful operation. 

Among  the  early  Principals  of  the  school  are  the  names, 
Joshua  D.  Berry,  Francis  W.  Upham,  David  Dickey,  A.  B., 
Porter  S.  Burbank,  a.  b.,  and  Oren  B.  Cheney,  a.  b. 

Of  the  students  many    have   filled  honorable  stations  in 


*See  paper  on  "  Educational  Work,"  p.  156. 


Educational  Institutions,  215 

life,  but  tlie  crowning  honor  of  tlie  institution  is  that  it 
helped  to  educate  that  poor  boy  who  afterwards  became  the 
distinguished  United  States  Senator  from  Massachusetts  and 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  Henry  Wilson. 

LAPHAM   INSTITUTE. 

Soon  after  the  establishment  of  Parsonsfield  Seminary,  the 
friends  of  education  in  our  denomination  in  Rhode  Island 
began  to  consider  the  propriety  of  founding  a  similar  school 
in  that  State.  After  considerable  discussion  it  was  decided 
in  1837,  to  undertake  the  work  upon  what  was  termed  "the 
stock  plan."  It  was  believed  by  many  that  the  income  from 
tuition  would  pay  the  salaries  of  the  teachers  and  that,  from 
the  profits  of  the  boarding  department,  a  dividend  of  six  or 
seven  per  cent,  might  be  paid  to  the  stockholders. 

It  was  located  at  Smithville  in  the  town  of  North  Scituate 
and  was  called  Smithville  Seminary.  A  site  was  bought  and 
three  commodious  buildings  erected  thereon  at  a  cost,  in 
all,  of  about  ^22,000.  The  institution  was  incorporated  in 
1839,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  the  school  was 
opened  with  Rev.  Hosea  Quinby  as  Principal.  The  attend- 
ance was  very  large.  The  denomination  had  but  two  lit- 
erary institutions  in  New  England,  at  that  time,  and  students 
came  from  every  State  except  Vermont.  Here  many  young 
men  and  women  laid  sohd  foundations  for  future  useful- 
ness. The  Seminary  also  aided  greatly  in  the  advance- 
ment of  the  public  schools  throughout  the  State.  It  was 
thoroughly  denominational  and  took  a  strong  and  decided 
position  against  American  slavery,  the  sale  and  use  of 
intoxicating  liquors  and  all  other  forms  of  sin.  From  the 
first,  students  were  not  allowed  to  receive  visitors  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  it  was  soon  found  that  the  sacredness  of  the 
I>ord's  day  could  be  maintained  in  a  large  boarding  school. 
A  strong  religious  influence  prevailed  throughout  the  institu- 


2i6  Centennial  Record, 

tion.     Students  were   encouraged  to  live  lives  of  piety  and 
those  not  Christians  were  led  to  become  such. 

The  cost  of  the  property  was  more  than  the  amount  of 
stock  subscribed,  and  the  debt  thus  incurred  proved  a 
source  of  embarrassment.  Dissatisfaction  arose,  and  it  be- 
came necessary  to  sell  the  property  to  pay  the  debts.  At 
the  sale,  Mr.  Quinby  bought  it,  and  continued  to  carry  on 
the  school  as  a  private  enterprise.  It  proved  difficult  for 
the  school  to  retain  its  hold  upon  the  sympathies  and  pat- 
ronage of  the  community,  and  it  passed  into  other  hands. 
Strenuous  efforts  were  made  to  revive  its  waning  fortunes 
but  with  little  success,  and  in  1859  the  school  closed  entire- 
ly. The  Seminary  lay  idle  and  empty  until  1863,  when 
an  effort  was  made  to  re-establish  the  school  which  had 
been  so  great  a  power  for  good  in  the  State.  The  Hon. 
Benedict  Lapham  bought  the  property  and  soon  after  made 
it  over  in  due  form  to  the  Rhode  Island  Free  Baptist  Asso- 
ciation. For  this  generous  act  the  Trustees  changed  the 
name  to  Lapham  Institute.  The  buildings  were  put  in  good 
repair  at  a  cost  of  over  five  thousand  dollars.  Rev.  B.  F. 
Hayes  was  chosen  Principal  and  the  school  was  re-opened 
in  the  fall  of  1863.  In  the  summer  of  1865,  Mr.  Hayes  was 
elected  to  a  professorship  in  Bates  College  and  his  place  in 
the  Institute  was  filled  by  Mr.  Thomas  L,  Angell.  The 
school  continued  to  prosper  until  1868,  when  Mr.  Angell 
was  chosen  to  a  professorship  in  the  same  college.  The 
Trustees  then  secured  the  services  of  Prof.  Geo.  H. 
Ricker,  as  Principal.  The  prosperity  of  the  school  contin- 
ued during  his  administration,  which  ended  in  1874,  and  he 
was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Arthur  G.  Moulton,  an  accomplished 
young  man  and  an  excellent  teacher.  Soon  after  the  close 
of  his  first  year's  work  he  was  taken  away  by  death.  Some 
time  before  this  the  Association  had  sold  the  property 
to   Mr.   Wm.    Winsor,  who  then  put  it  under  the  care  of 


Educational  Institutions.  217 

Rev.  W.  S.  Stockbridge,  and  he  continued  in  the  school 
until  the  spring  of  1879,  «'hen  he  left  and  the  Institute  has 
been   closed  since  that  time. 

This  school  has  had  a  varied  histor)',  and  will  long  be  re- 
membered with  affection  by  many  who  have  enjoyed  the 
privileges  it  has  afforded. 

WHITESTO\VN  SEMINARY. 

In    1 84 1    the    Freewill    Baptists   of    Central   New   York 
bought  the  buildings  and  property  of  the  Clinton  Seminary, 
in  the  village  of  Chnton,  Oneida  Co.,  and  opened  a  school. 
Rev.  J.  J.  Butler  was  its  first  Principal,  and  under  his  man- 
agement it  became  a  prosperous  school.     Rev.  John  Fullon- 
ton  came  to  this  school,  as  a  teacher,  in  the  summer  of  1843, 
and  in  1844  became  its  Principal.     Increased  accommoda- 
tions were  soon  demanded,  and  to  secure  these,  the  buildings 
and  grounds  of  the  Oneida  Institute,  in  the  village  of  Whites- 
boro',  N.  Y.,  were  bought  and  the  school  was  removed   from 
Chnton  to  its  new  location  in  the  summer  of  1844  and  took  the 
name  of  Whitestown  Seminary.     The  Biblical  School  of  the 
denomination  was  removed  from  Parsonsfield,  Me.,  to  Whites- 
town  soon  after  the  opening  of  the  Seminary  there.     Revs. 
M.  M.  Smart  and  J.  J.  Butler  were  appointed  as  instructors 
in  that  Department.     Mr.  Smart  remained  until  1849,  and 
in    1 85 1    Rev.   Dr.  Fullonton  succeeded   him.     Prof,  (now 
Rev.)  D.  S.  Heflron  was  Principal  of  the  Seminary  in  1845 
-6,  and  a  member  of  the  faculty  from  1 841  to  1848.     Prof. 
Samuel  Farnham  was  its  Principal  from  1846  to  1853.     He 
was  succeeded  in  that  office  by  Prof.  James  S.  Gardner,  who 
occupied  the  position  until  his  death  in  the  spring  of  1880. 
During  all  this  time  the   Seminary  has  held  a  high  rank 
among  the  educational  institutions  of  the  State.     It  is  esti- 
mated that  more  than  10,000  pupils,  in  all,  have  received  in- 
struction in  its  classes.     Few  schools  have  been  more  highly 


2iS  Centennial  Record. 

favored  in  respect  to  the  generally  wholesome  influences 
pervading  them,  and  this  has  been  due  to  the  high  personal 
character  of  the  teachers  and  the  judicious  and  salutary  dis- 
cipline that  has  always  been  maintained.  It  has  had  a  long 
and  useful  life ;  it  has  encountered  difficulties  but  it  has  a 
large  army  of  friends  among  its  alumni,  and  deserves  to  live 
and  thrive  for  a  long  time  to  come. 

GEAUGA   SEMINARY. 

This  school  was  opened  in  1S44,  ^t  Geauga,  Chester  Co., 
Ohio.  Revs.  R.  Dunn  and  A.  K.  Moulton  were  among  its 
founders.  David  Marks  was  general  agent  for  collecting 
funds.  A  farm  of  eighty  acres  was  bought  vvith  the  view  of 
manual  labor  by  the  students,  but  the  experiment  was  not 
successful.  The  Trustees  rejected  the  first  charter  granted 
them  because  the  Legislature  had  inserted  a  clause  exclud- 
ing persons  of  color  from  the  privileges  of  the  school.  The 
next  year  a  satisfactory  charter  was  obtained  and  the  school 
opened  under  the  instruction  of  Asahel  Nichols.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Daniel  Branch  were  soon  engaged  and  began  work  in 
February,  1845.  The  school  prospered  from  the  outset.  A 
fine  building  was  erected  and  many  cottages  were  built  for 
the  accommodation  of  students.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Branch 
were  obliged  to  leave  the  school  in  1S49,  ^Y  reason  of  fail- 
ing health,  and  were  succeeded  by  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Ball,  who 
was  then  pastor  of  the  church  and  had  been  employed 
as  an  assistant  teacher  in  the  school.  In  185 1  Rev.  Geo, 
T.  Day  became  Principal.  It  was  here  that  Gen.  James  A. 
Garfield  became  a  Christian  and  determined  to  acquire  an 
education. 

About  this  time  Hillsdale  College  was  established  and  as 
the  patronage  of  the  Seminary  had  declined  considerably,  it 
was  thought  best  to  sell  the  property  and  concentrate  in  the 
college.     The  work  done  during  the  short  life  of  the  school 


Educational  Institutions.  219 

was  of  great  value  to  our  churches  and  the  world.  The  fra- 
grance of  its  influence  has  always  been  sweet  and  helpful 
and  the  general  fruitage  surprisingly  large.  Its  work  is  per- 
petuated in  Hillsdale  College  and  in  the  lives  and  character 
,  of  the  men  and  women  who  enjoyed  its  advantages. 

HILLSDALE   COLLEGE, 

In  the  year  1844,  Rev.  L.  B.  Potter  and  others  secured 
the  adoption  of  Quarterly  Meeting  action  in  favor  of  a  Free- 
will Baptist  school  in  Michigan,  and  Rev.  Cyrus  Coltrin  was 
employed  for  a  short  time  as  general  agent.  Spring  Arbor 
secured  the  location  of  the  school  and  in  December,  1844, 
in  a  vacated  store,  with  one  teacher  (Rev.  D.  M.  Graham) 
and  five  students,  the  school  was  opened.  A  charter,  which 
gave  the  name  of  Michigan  Central  College  but  without  au- 
thority for  conferring  degrees,  was  secured,  and  L.  B.  Potter 
and  L.  J.  Thompson  were  employed  as  assistant  teachers  ; 
two  buildings  worth  a  thousand  dollars  each  were  soon  pro- 
vided. Within  four  years  the  first  Professor  resigned  and 
Rev.  E.  B.  Fairfield  was  elected  to  fill  the  place ;  the  char- 
ter was  also  amended  so  as  to  give  full  college  powers.  But 
there  was  no  room  for  students,  nor  any  endowment  for  the 
teachers.  The  location  proved  to  be  unfavorable  and  the 
question  of  a  change  was  agitated  privately.  At  the  annual 
meeting  in  January,  1853,  Profs.  Fairfield  and  Dunn  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  make  inquiries  respecting  a  more 
favorable  locality.  As  soon  as  this  was  known  at  Hillsdale, 
a  committee  was  appointed  in  that  place  and  measures 
adopted  for  securing  the  location  of  the  college.  Funds 
were  raised  and  the  comer  stone  laid  in  Hillsdale,  July  4, 
1853.  A  building,  with  a  front  of  two  hundred  and  sixty 
feet,  and  extending  from  forty  to  sixty  feet  in  the  rear,  with 
four  stories  above  the  basement,  and  worth  seventy-five 
thousand  dollars,  was  built.     The  college  was  opened  in  No- 


220  Centennial  Record. 

vember,  1855,  with  pledges  for  endowment  of  about  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  This  amount  has  been  gradually  in- 
creased, so  that  now,  besides  a  good  many  subscriptions  of 
but  little  worth,  a  little  over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  is 
well  invested  and  secured.  When  three  of  the  principal 
buildings  were  burned  in  1874,  the  college  was  free  from 
debt,  but,  in  rebuilding,  a  debt  of  nearly  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars was  incurred,  and  is  not  yet  removed. 

During  the  three  years  since  new  buildings  were  erected 
there  has  been  a  constant  increase  of  numbers  in  attend- 
ance. 

Rev.  E.  B.  Fairfield,  d.  d,,  was  President  of  the  college  at 
the  time  of  its  removal  to  Hillsdale,  and  continued  in  that 
position  until  June  17,  1869.  After  his  resignation,  Rev. 
James  Calder  occupied  the  position  for  a  few  years,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Rev.  D.  M.  Graham.  In  1874,  Rev.  D.  W.  C. 
Durgin  was  elected  to  that  office  and  still  continues  in  it. 
The  number  of  graduates  from  the  college  is  450,  and  there 
are  now  146  fitting  for  college  in  its  Preparatory  Department. 

A  large  number  of  our  ministers,  in  the  West,  and  not  a 
few  in  New  England,  and  eight  of  our  missionaries  in  India 
have  been  educated  within  its  walls.  It  is  steadily  increas- 
ing in  strength  and  usefulness  and  bids  fair  to  go  on  in  its 
noble  work  for  a  hundred  years  to  come. 

NEW   HAMPTON   INSTITUTION. 

This  school  was  incorporated  as  an  Academy  in  182 1, 
and  located  at  what  is  known  as  the  "Center."  John  K. 
Simpson,  Esq.,  was  the  chief  donor  to  its  funds.  Soon  after 
its  opening  the  Calvinistic  Baptists  desired  to  assume  con- 
trol of  it,  promising  to  give  it  their  patronage  if  this  could 
be  done,  and  in  1825  the  management  of  its  affairs  passed 
.into  their  hands. 

In  1827,  the  Female  Department  was  opened  at  the  "  Vil- 


Educational  Institutions.  221 

lage,"  about  two  miles  from  the  "Center,"  on  the  grounds 
where  the  Seminary  now  stands.     In  1829,  a  course  of  The- 
ological study  was  arranged  and  a  class  formed  in  that  de- 
partment.     As  the  school  had  no  endowment  it  became 
necessary  to  remove  it  to  a  location  where  one  could  be 
raised  for  it,  and  this  was  done  in  1852.     When  this  was  de- 
cided upon,  the  friends  of  education  in  the  vicinity  began 
to  inquire  if  something  could  not  be  done  to  continue  a 
school  where  one  had  been  maintained  so  long.     These  in- 
quiries soon  developed  a  conviction  in  many  minds  that  the 
Freewill  Baptists  could  sustain  such  a  school.     It  was  de- 
termined that  an  effort  would  be  made  to   raise  funds  suf- 
ficient to  reorganize  the  school.     Steps  were   at  once  taken 
to  reach  this  end.     Col.  R.  G.  Lewis,  a  wealthy  and  influen- 
tial citizen  of  the  town,  entered  heartily  into  the  work.     He 
gave  liberally  of  money,  and  hard  work  and  good  advice, 
and,  in  many  ways,  did  much  to  make  certain  the  success  of 
the  new  enterprise.     Without  his  help  the  work  could  not 
have  been  done.     A  strong  interest  in  the  school  was  mani- 
fested among  those  who  were  called  to  become  its  friends 
and  patrons.     An  Act  of  Incorporation  was  obtained,  Jan. 
5,  1853,  and  an  organization  of  its  new  Board  of  Trustees 
was  effected  soon  after.     The  buildings  of  the  old  school 
were   rebuilt   and    the   female   department   of    the   school 
opened  April  2,  1853,  under  the  instruction  of  Mrs.  C.  P. 
Stanton,  assisted  by  Miss  Clara  Stanton  and  Miss  Mary  S. 
Latham;     three   weeks    later,   the   male    department    was 
opened  with  Prof.  Benjamin  Stanton  as  Principal,  and  Rev.  I. 
D.  Stewart  as  teacher  of  Mathematics.     There  were  nearly 
one  hundred  students  in  both  departments,  which  were  soon 
united   in   one   school.     The   school   rapidly   increased  in 
members  and    the  aggregate  annual   attendance  has  been 
over  five  hundred  ever  since  that  time.     In  1853  the  old 
"Brick,"  at  the  "Center,"  was  taken  down  and  the  materi- 


22  2  Centennial  Record. 

als  used  in  the  construction  of  "  Randall  Hall,"  and  a  wood- 
en building  of  two  stories  was  built  for  a  boarding  house. 
About  the  same  time  the  building  known  as  the  "  Lodge  " 
was  opened  for  a  ladies'  boarding  house.  In  1858,  the 
Trustees  bought  the  "Center  House."  In  1859  the  old  vil- 
lage church,  which  had  served  as  a  chapel,  was  taken  down 
and  "  Chapel  Hall "  was  erected.  The  Trustees  now  own 
and  occupy  six  buildings,  two  of  which  are  brick. 

In  1854,  the  Biblical  School  was  removed  to  this  place 
from  Whitestown,  N.  Y.  This  department  under  the  in- 
struction of  Rev.  J.  J.  Butler,  d.  d.,  and  Rev.  J.  Fullonton, 
D.  D.,  occupied  a  portion  of  the  Institution  building,  but  was 
entirely  distinct  from  the  other  departments  of  the  school, 
being  under  the  control  of  the  Education  Society.  It  was 
removed  to  Lewiston,  Me.,  in  1870,  having  had  an  average 
attendance  of  about  twenty. 

Prof.  A.  B.  Meservey,  the  present  Principal,  has  been  in 
charge  of  the  school  for  several  years,  and  through  his  efforts 
a  Commercial  Department,  second  to  none  in  the  country, 
has  been  established  and  maintained  with  increasing  popular- 
ity. All  other  departments  are  under  the  care  of  thoroughly 
competent  instructors  and  the  Institution  affords  excellent 
facilities  for  education. 

PIKE    SEMINARY. 

This  school  was  established  by  the  Genesee  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  A  wooden  building,  sixty 
by  sixty-five  feet  in  size  and  three  stories  in  hight,  was  built 
for  its  use.  About  three  years  from  its  opening,  under  the 
instruction  of  Rev.  Zenas  Hurd,  it  was  sold  to  a  Board  of 
Trustees  representing  the  Freewill  Baptist  denomination.  In 
this  purchase  Marvin  E.  Shepard,  Esq.,  was  the  leading  man, 
and  to  his  untiring  zeal,  executive  ability  and  noble  generosi- 
ty the  denomination  is  indebted  for  this  excellent  school  and 


Educational  Institutlotis.  223 

the  strong  church  which  has  grown  up  around  it.  He  was 
the  first  President  of  the  new  Board  of  Trustees  and  fills  that 
office  at  the  present  time.  The  purchase  of  the  school  prop- 
erty took  place  in  the  spring  of  1S59.  Rev.  Charles  Putnam 
was  elected  Principal,  and  the  school  was  opened  the  fall  of 
the  same  year.  Prof.  Putnam  continued  in  charge  three 
years,  during  which  time  the  patronage  was  large  and  the 
school  prosperous.  In  1862,  Prof.  Putnam  was  succeeded 
by  Prof.  G.  C.  Waterman,  who  remained  until  November, 
1 86  7.  The  school  continued  in  a  prosperous  condition, 
though  somewhat  affected  by  the  state  of  the  country 
and  the  enactment  of  the  "  Free  School  Law."  Rev.  D.  M. 
Stuart  was  next  employed  as  Principal,  and  was  followed  in 
1869  by  Prof.  W.  W.  Bean.  During  the  years  following  fre- 
quent changes  occurred  until  1873,  when  Rev.  I.  B.  Smith 
was  chosen  Principal,  which  place  he  still  occupies.  In 
1871  and  '72  an  endowment  of  $25,000  was  secured  by  sub- 
scription, thus  placing  the  school  on  a  solid  foundation. 
There  are  no  debts  and  the  property  is  in  good  repair.  The 
school  is  steadily  advancing  in  public  favor  and  its  literary 
standing  is  superior  to  that  of  many  older  schools  in  the 
State. 

MAINE    STATE    SEMINARY. 

The  Seminary  at  Parsonsfield,  Me.,  was  burned  to  ashes  on 
the  2ist  of  Sept.,  1854.  A  few  days  later  action  was  taken 
which  led  to  the  calling  of  an  educational  convention  at 
which  measures  were  adopted  resulting  in  the  establishment 
of  the  Maine  State  Seminary  at  Lewiston.  The  charter  was 
granted  March  16,  1855,  and  the  corner-stone  of  Hathorn 
hall  was  laid  on  the  26th  of  June,  in  the  same  year.  Ap- 
propriate exercises  were  held  on  the  occasion.  Rev.  M.  J. 
Steere  delivered  an  oration  and  addresses  were  made  by 
other  gentlemen.      The  school  opened  Sept.   i,   1857,  with 


224  Centennial  Reeord. 

137  students  and  received  a  large  patronage  during  the  entire 
twelve  years  of  its  existence,  and  76  students  were  fiitetl  for 
the  New  England  colleges.  There  seemed  to  be  a  demand 
for  a  Free  Baptist  college  in  New  England,  and  it  was  de- 
cided in  1863  to  organize  in  the  Seminary  a  Freshman  class. 
This  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  Bates  Col- 
lege, into  which  the  Seminary  was  finally  changed.  A  bril- 
liant future  was  opening  before  the  Seminary  and  many  re- 
gretted the  change,  but  it  was  felt  to  be  the  only  way  in 
which  to  secure  the  much  needed  college.  It  is  only  justice 
to  say  that  the  Seminary  was  the  child  of  the  heart  of  Rev. 
O.  B.  Cheney,  who,  under  God,  was  its  founder.  He  was 
able  to  gather  to  his  assistance  a  noble  company  of  earnest, 
sagacious,  Christian  men  and  women.  The  membership  of 
our  churches  has  stood  faithfully  by  him  in  the  long  and  ard- 
uous work  to  which  he  has  given  himself  and  which  is  yet 
unfinished.  It  was  his  keen  vision  that  discerned  the  op- 
portune moment  for  undertaking  the  enterprise,  and  his  un- 
tiring faith  and  zeal  and  hard  work  that  carried  it  to  so  suc- 
cessful a  completion.  To  him,  more  than  to  any  other  hu- 
man agency,  is  the  denomination  indebted  for  what  has  been 
accomplished  at  the  point  which  has  become  the  center  of 
our  educational  work  in  New  England.  Other  noble  men 
have  been  associated  with  him  and  so  sustained  and  encour- 
aged him  that  he  has  been  permitted  to  see  a  remarkable 
and  gratifying  success  in  his  work. 

BATES   COLLEGE. 

The  origin  of  this  Institution  has  already  been  stated  in 
the  foregoing  sketch  of  the  Seminary  which  was  its  predeces- 
sor. It  took  its  name  from  the  Hon.  Benj.  E.  Bates,  late  of 
Boston,  who  gave  a  large  amount  of  money  to  it  during  his 
life,  and  made  a  generous  bequest  in  its  favor  in  his  will.  It 
has  employed  from  the  first  an  able  faculty,  and  the  institu- 


Educational  Institutions.  225 

tion  has  been  of  the  most  thorough  and  scholarly  character. 

Two  hundred  and  nine  students,  of  whom  six  were  ladies, 
have  graduated  from  its  courses  of  study.  There  are  now 
more  than  one  hundred  and  thirty  students  in  its  classes. 

The  first  lady  to  graduate  from  a  New  England  college  re- 
ceived her  diploma  from  Bates  College  in  1869.  There  are 
now  fourteen  ladies  in  the  college,  eight  of  whom  are  in  the 
Freshman  class. 

The  college  owns  a  very  valuable  property  in  real  estate 
and  has  the  nucleus  of  an  endowment  which  its  friends  hope 
to  see  made  sufficient  within  a  few  years  to  enable  it  to  go  on 
with  its  important  work  without  emban-assment.  It  has  fur- 
nished to  our  denomination  eighty  ministers,  and  there  are 
now  in  the  different  departments  of  the  institution  forty 
young  men  having  the  ministry  in  view. 

MAINE    CENTRAL    INSTITUTE. 

When  it  was  decided  to  change  the  Maine  State  Seminary 
into  a  college,  it  was  felt  to  be  necessary  to  establish,  at 
some  convenient  point,  a  school  which  should  be  similar  to 
the  Seminary  in  its  plans  and  methods,  in  which  students 
might  enjoy  all  the  opportunities  that  had  been  afforded 
them  in  that  institution.  This  resulted  in  the  founding  of 
the  Maine  Central  Institute,  at  Pittsfield,  Somerset  Co.,  Me. 
The  location  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  State.  .A  school  was 
begun  in  1866,  but  the  Institute  was  not  permanently  opened 
until  the  fall  of  1867,  since  which  time  it  has  been  uninter- 
rupted. In  1868  a  fine  brick  building  was  erected,  affording 
the  school  all  needful  accommodations.  In  addition  to  the 
usual  classical  and  scientific  courses  of  study,  a  normal 
course  was  established  in  which  specific  instruction  was  given 
in  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  the  public  schools.  More 
than  one  hundred  have  already  graduated  from  the  different 
courses  of  study,  and  a  large  number  of  these  have  entered 


2  26  Centennial  Record. 

New  England  colleges.  The  Institute,  though  young,  has 
done  a  noble  work  for  Cliristian  education  in  the  State  and 
will  doubtless  continue  to  increase  in  power  and  usefulness 
as  its  age  increases. 

/  CHESHIRE   ACADEMY. 

In  the  year  1858  a  high  school  was  opened  at  Cheshire, 
Gallia  Co.,  Ohio,  by  Rev.  P.  W.  Perry  and  taught  for  ten 
months,  during  which  time  a  deep  interest  in  education  was 
awakened  among  the  Freewill  Baptists  of  that  vicinity. 
Through  Mr.  Perry's  influence  the  citizens  were  induced  to 
establish  an  Academy  in  that  village.  A  building  was 
erected  in  i860.  Mr.  Perry  began  the  first  term  of  school 
in  the  new  building  on  the  tenth  of  December,  i860;  he 
continued  in  that  position  for  several  years,  during  which 
time  the  number  of  students  varied  from  thirty-five  to  eighty- 
five.  The  Academy  continued  in  existence  for  a  number  of 
years  but  was  finally  discontinued  and  the  building  sold  to 
the  town  for  the  use  of  the  public  schools. 

WILTON    COLLEGIATE    INSTITUTE. 

This  school,  located  at  Wilton,  Iowa,  was  opened  Dec.  6, 
i860,  under  the  conviction  that  the  Freewill  Baptists  west  of 
the  Mississippi  needed  and  would  support  a  good  education- 
al institution.  A  citizens'  Seminary  was  contracted  to  the 
Freewill  Baptists  and  they,  within  three  years,  built  a  valua- 
ble boarding-house  and  gave  the  school  a  generous  patron- 
age. A  considerable  amount  was  pledged  for  an  endowment, 
and  several  wealthy  individuals  were  intending  to  give  it  sub- 
stantial aid  as  soon  as  certain  titles  and  conditions  were  se- 
cured. Before  this  was  completed  difficulties  arose  which 
have  embarrassed  the  institution  for  several  years,  and  it  is 
doubtful  if  these  hindrances  to  its  prosperity  will  be  removed 
so  that  the  Institute  will  accomplish  all  that  its  founders  de- 
signed. 


Educational  Institutions.  227 


LYNDON  LITERARY   AND    BIBLICAL   INSTITUTION. 

For  many  years  the  Freewill  Baptists  of  the  State  of  Ver- 
mont felt  the  need  of  a  school  of  their  own.  In  the  year 
1855,  the  Vermont  Yearly  Meeting  detennined  to  make  an 
effort  to  establish  such  a  school,  and  appointed  a  committee 
to  select  a  location.  The  committee  decided  to  recommend 
the  location  on  which  Lyndon  Institution  now  stands,  and  a 
special  session  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  was  called  to  consider 
the  subject.  A  remonstrance  against  this  location  was  pre- 
sented, and  a  change  was  made,  but  no  decisive  action  taken. 
After  some  years  the  western  section  of  the  Yearly  Meeting 
established  the  Green  Mountain  Seminary,  at  Waterbury 
Center. 

The  friends  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  State,  now  more 
anxious  than  ever  for  a  school  so  located  as  to  accommodate 
their  students,  obtained  a  charter  in  November,  1867.  It 
was  more  difficult  to  secure  the  funds  with  which  to  erect  a 
building  and  put  a  school  in  operation.  A  subscription 
amounting  to  ^11,350  was  raised  in  Lyndon,  but  became 
null  and  void  by  limitation,  in  October,  1868.  Soon  after 
this  the  citizens  of  the  town  held  a  meeting  at  which  it 
was  voted  that  the  town  would  undertake  to  raise  $20,000, 
provided  that  $5,000  should  be  raised  elsewhere.  The 
Wheelock  Quarterly  Meeting  agreed  to  raise  $4,000  of  the 
proposed  amount. 

These  subscriptions  were  raised  and  the  corner-stone  of 
the  Institution  was  laid,  on  the  27th  of  August,  1869.  -"^ 
large,  commodious  and  elegant  brick  building  was  erected 
upon  one  of  the  most  beautiful  locations  in  New  England. 
The  scenery  in  the  immediate  vicinity  is  picturesque  and  ro- 
mantic. The  grounds  of  the  Institution  are  akeady  giving 
promise  of  rare  beauty  in  the  future. 


228  '  Centennial  Record. 

The  school  was  opened  in  the  vestry  of  the  church,  in 
August,  1870,  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  George  W.  Worthen, 
with  about  fifty  pupils.  The  next  year,  the  building  having 
been  so  far  completed  as  to  afford  suitable  accommodations 
to  the  school,  it  was  dedicated,  on  which  occasion  an  address 
was  dehvered  by  Rev.  Geo.  T.  Day,  d.  d.  At  this  time  Mr. 
J.  C.  Hopkins  became  Principal  of  the  school,  and  remained 
until  in  the  spring  of  1872,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Prof. 
J.  S.  Brown  who  still  remains  in  charge  of  the  school.  Mr. 
Hopkins  was  a  fine  instructor  and  had  given  an  excellent 
tone  to  the  school,  which  Prof.  Brown  has  well  maintained. 

Nearly  four  hundred  different  students  have  attended  the 
school  since  its  opening.  Twenty-two  have  graduated  from 
its  courses  of  study,  several  of  whom  have  gone  through  col- 
lege. 

But  Httle  of  the  proposed  endowment  has  yet  been  raised. 
The  school  is  greatly  prized  by  the  entire  community  around 
it.  It  only  needs  that  new  friends  should  arise  to  stimulate  a 
wider  patronage  and  give  it  increased  financial  support  to  in- 
sure it  a  large  measure  of  success  in  the  future. 

GREEN   MOUNTAIN   SEMINARY. 

The  Green  Mountain  Seminary  was  incorporated  in  No- 
vember, 1862.  The  Trustees  at  first  decided  to  locate  it  at 
Sutton,  but  the  location  was  afterwards  changed  to  East 
Orange.  For  various  reasons  the  erection  of  school  build- 
ings was  deferred  for  several  years.  Finally,  in  1S68,  the 
Trustees  decided  to  remove  the  location  to  Waterbury  Cen- 
ter. A  suitable  building  was  erected  and  the  school  opened 
in  the  fall  of  1869  with  a  large  attendance  and  brilHant  pros- 
pects. Its  first  Principal  was  A.  J.  Sanborn,  a.  m.  He  was 
succeeded  by  C.  A.  Mooers,  a.  m.,  who  was  followed  by  Rev. 
R.  H.  Tozer.  The  school  passed  next  into  the  care  of  Miss 
Lizzie  CoUey  who   is  now  in  charge  of  it.     Several  of  its 


Educational  Institutions.  229 

former  students  are  now  active  and  influential  ministers  m 
the  Vermont  Yearly  Meeting.  Its  founders  gave  generously 
of  their  means,  and  most  of  them,  with  others  equally  noble, 
have  borne  heavy  financial  burdens  for  the  institution.  Ow- 
ing to  financial  difficulties  resulting  in  a  great  measure  from 
the  "  hard  times,"  the  school  has  not  yet  fulfilled  its  early 
promise,  but  the  clouds  are  disappearing  and  brighter  days 
seerh  to  be  dawning  upon  it.  This  institution  will  be  made 
entirely  successful  when  all  who  ought  to  be  interested  in 
the  cause  of  education  in  Vermont  work  for  it  with  the 
self-sacrificing  zeal  and  energy  of  its  founders.  There  would 
be  no  lack  of  means  or  students,  and  the  school  would  then 
become  a  power  working  for  the  glory  of  God  and  a  source 
of  strength  to  the  denomination. 

STORER    COLLEGE. 

Early  in  the  year  1866  the  question  of  estabhshing  a  Nor- 
mal School  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  was  discussed  by  the 
officers  of  the  Freewill  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society  and 
by  teachers  then  employed  among  the  freedmen.  But 
no  definite  steps  were  taken  until  1867,  when  John  Storer, 
Esq.,  of  Maine,  proposed  to  the  denomination  through  Rev. 
Dr.  Cheney,  that  he  would  give  to  it  $10,000  for  the  founding 
of  a  college  for  the  colored  people  of  the  South  on  condition 
that  an  equal  sum  be  raised  on  or  before  Jan.  i,  1868.  He 
also  named  O.  B.  Cheney,  Ebenezer  Knowlton,  Silas  Curtis, 
Geo.  T.  Day,  J.  M.  Brewster,  N.  C.  Brackett  and  Geo. 
Goodwin,  who,  with  others,  should  be  trustees  of  this  fund 
and  of  the  college.  At  the  New  Hampshire  Yearly  Meeting, 
held  at  Northwood,  these  persons  met  and  temporarily  or- 
ganized what  was  known  as  "  The  Commission  for  the  pro- 
motion of  Education  in  the  South."  Several  other  persons 
were  chosen  to  co-operate  with  them,  among  whom  were 
I.  D.  Stewart,  G.  H.  Ball,  James  Calder,  W.  P.  Fessenden, 


230  Centennial  Record. 

Gen,  Howard  and  Daniel  Ames.  A  charter  was  secured  at 
once  from  the  New  Hampshire  Legislature  ;  and  an  organiz- 
ation under  it  was  effected,  July  24,  1S67.  The  officers 
were,  President,  E.  Knowlton ;  Secretary,  J.  M.  Brewster ; 
Treasurer,  N.  C.  Bracket! ;  Executive  Committee,  Geo. 
T.  Day,  S.  Curtis,  I.  D.  Stewart,  J.  M.  Brewster  and 
N.  C.  Brackett.  This  organization  undertook  the  work 
of  raising  the  required  $10,000.  In  the  meantime,  a  njpve- 
ment,  led  by  Dr.  Ball,  commenced  at  the  Genesee  Y.  M., 
and  was  successfully  prosecuted  till  $5,000  or  more  were 
raised  in  the  State  of  New  York.  Mr.  Storer  died  during 
the  progress  of  this  work,  and  the  conditions  of  the  bequest 
had  to  be  met  to  the  letter,  both  in  time  and  money.  More 
than  enough  money  was  pledged,  but  in  order  to  report  it 
invested,  two  of  the  committee,  on  the  last  day  of  grace,  as- 
sumed the  responsibility  of  nearly  $3,000,  and  the  donation 
was  saved.  Measures  were  also  set  on  foot  which  finally 
resulted  in  a  transfer  of  four  valuable  buildings  at  Harper's 
Ferry  to  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  and  finally  to  the  school. 
In  November,  1867,  Gen.  Howard  paid  $6,000  to  the  Treas- 
urer. 

The  normal  department  was  opened  in  October,  1867. 
The  charter  of  the  college  was  received  from  West  Virginia  in 
March,  1868,  and  the  funds  of  the  (Commission  were  trans- 
ferred to  it.  The  bill  giving  it  its  site,  with  the  buildings 
thereon,  was  passed  by  Congress  and  approved  by  President 
Johnson,  Dec.  3,  1868.  This  bill  was  in  charge  of  Hon. 
W.  P.  Fessenden,  in  the  Senate,  and  of  Gen.  James  A.  Gar- 
field, in  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  school  has  sent 
out  over  two  hundred  teachers  and  twenty-five  preachers. 
Several  hundreds  were  converted  while  connected  with  it. 
The  devotional  spirit  has  always  been  strong  in  the  school 
and  many  powerful  revivals  of  religion  have  occurred.  The 
religious   sentiment   and  the   pride  of  the  students  in  the 


Educational  Institutions.  231 

good  name  of  the  school  has  greatly  aided  in  maintaining 
proper  discipline. 

Storer  College  has  passed  through  severe  financial  embar- 
rassments and  has  encountered  bitter  and  violent  opposition 
fi-om  the  community  about  it,  but  God  has  wonderfully 
blessed  the  institution  and  it  hopes  to  triumph  over  all  these 
difficulties. 

Rev.  N.  C.  Brackett  has  been  Principal  of  the  normal 
department  from  the  first,  and  has  been  assisted  by  his 
wife,  his  sister,  Miss  Lura  Brackett,  and  others.  Rev.  A.  H. 
Morrell,  Superintendent  of  Missions  in  the  valley,  has  also 
been  connected  with  the  school  during  nearly  all  its  existence. 
Too  much  praise  can  not  well  be  given  to  these  Christian 
men  and  women  who  have  steadfastly  labored  for  the  welfare 
of  the  freedmen,  and  whose  labors  have  already  borne  such 
a  harvest. 

RIDGEVILLE    COLLEGE. 

This  institution  is  located  at  Ridgeville,  Randolph  Co., 
Ind.  It  was  organized  in  1867.  The  citizens  of  the  village 
and  vicinity  gave  twenty  thousand  dollars  towards  the  erec- 
tion of  the  building,  which  is  built  of  brick.  It  will  be 
worth  $30,000  when  completed  and  can  be  finished  for 
about  one  thousand  dollars,  which  is  now  being  raised. 
The  charter  provides  that  the  President,  Faculty  and  two- 
thirds  of  the  Trustees  shall  be  Freewill  Baptists.  The  aim 
of  its  friends  is  to  raise  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for 
its  endowment,  thirty  thousand  of  which  have  been  raised 
since  1872. 

Rev.  John  L.  Collier,  A.  M.,  was  the  first  President.  He 
was  succeeded  the  same  year  by  Rev.  S.  D.  Bates,  a.  m., 
who  continues  to  fill  the  office. 

The  number  of  students  has  not  been  large,  but  a  thor- 
ough and  satisfactory  work  has  been  done  by  them.     Nine 


232  Centennial  Record, 

have  graduated    from  the    scientific  and    classical  courses. 
Though  but  a  child  of  thirteen  years,  it  hopes  soon  to 
reach  a  larger  growth  and  to  do  a  better  work. 

RIO    GRANDE   COLLEGE. 

Dea.  Nehemiah  Atwood,  a  wealthy  resident  of  Gallia  Co., 
Ohio,  was  converted  and  baptized  under  the  labors  01  the 
late  Rev.  I.  Z.  Haning.  He  had  no  children  and  expressed 
his  desire  and  purpose  to  devote  his  property  to  the  cause 
of  Christian  education.  He  died  intestate  in  1869.  His 
widow,  Mrs.  Permelia  Atwood,  in  accordance  with  his  wish- 
es, erected,  near  her  home  in  Rio  Grande,  Ohio,  a  substan- 
tial and  beautiful  college  building  which  was  formally  dedi- 
cated Aug.  30,  1876,  and  school  was  opened  two  weeks 
later.  Subsequently  a  boarding  hall  was  erected  and  the 
buildings  and  ten  acres  of  ground,  estimated  to  be  worth 
forty  thousand  dollars,  were  deeded  to  a  legally  organized 
Board  of  Trustees  to  which  the  remainder  of  the  Atwood 
property  is  willed.  A  clause  of  the  constitution  govern- 
ing the  Board  provides  that  at  least  two  thirds  of  its 
members  shall  be  Freewill  Baptists  in  good  and  regular 
standing. 

The  successful  establishment  of  the  college  has  been  large- 
ly aided  by  the  labors  of  R.  Dunn,  d.  d.,  and  Rev.  I.  Z. 
Haning. 

WEST  VIRGINIA   COLLEGE. 

This  institution,  located  at  Flemington,  Taylor  Co.,  W. 
Va.,  was  founded  in  1868.  It  has  a  substantial  brick  build- 
ing, but  has  no  endowment.  About  250  students  have  been 
connected  with  it  in  the  past.  Two  teachers  are  employed 
and  the  school  is  doing  a  good  work.  Its  friends  beheve 
that  its  prospects  are  brightening. 


Educational  Institutions.  233 


THE    BIBLICAL   SCHOOL. 

To  complete  the  record  of  our  educational  institutions  a 
sketch  of  the  Biblical  School  would  naturally  be  looked  for 
in  this  connection ;  but  the  history  of  that  School  has  been 
so  intimately  connected  with  the  work  of  the  Education  So- 
ciety that  no  further  reference  seems  to  be  called  for  than 
what  may  be  found  on  pp.  156-166. 


AGED  MINISTERS. 


One  of  the  most  interesting  sen-ices  at  the  Centennial 
Conference  was  that  of  the  aged  ministers.  It  was  held  in 
the  evening  of  July  21st,  and  the  sight  of  eighteen  venerable 
men  on  the  platform,  all  of  them  seventy  or  more  years  of 
age,  was  grandly  impressive.  The  services  were  conducted 
by  father  Curtis,  and  after  the  singing  of  an  appropriate 
hymn,  he  read  the  following  select  Scriptures  : 

The  glory  of  young  men  is  their  strength  ;  and  the  beauty  of 
old  men  is  the  gray  head.  Hear  this,  ye  old  men,  and  give  ear, 
all  ye  inhabitants  of  the  land.  Hath  this  been  in  your  days,  or 
even  in  the  days  of  your  fathers  ?  Tell  ye  your  children  of  it, 
and  let  your  children  tell  their  children,  and  their  children 
another  generation.  Now  also  when  I  am  old  and  gray-headed, 
O  God,  forsake  me  not  until  I  have  showed  thy  strength  unto  this 
generation,  and  thy  power  to  every  one  that  is  to  come. 

The  hoary  head  is  a  crown  of  glory  if  it  be  found  in  the  way  of 
righteousness.  They  shall  bring  forth  fruit  in  old  age.  They 
shall  be  fat  and  flourishing,  and  thou  shalt  go  to  thy  lathers  in 
peace,  thou  shalt  be  buried  in  a  good  old  age.  Thou  shalt 
come  to  thy  grave  in  a  full  age,  like  as  a  shock  of  corn  cometh  in 
his  season.  With  long  life  will  I  satisfy  him  and  show  him  my 
salvation.     As  thy  days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be. 

For  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  depart- 
ure is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight.  I  have  finished  my 
course.  I  have  kept  the  faith.  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for 
me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous 
judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day :  and  not  to  me  only  but  unto 
all  them  also  that  love  his  appearing. 

Father  Jackson  led  in  prayer.  The  immense  audience 
was  then  addressed  by  father  Curtis  as  follows  : 


Aged  Ministers.  235 

"  Your  fathers,  where  are  they  ?  and  the  prophets,  do  they 
live  forever?" 

As  thirty-three  and  a  third  years  constitute  a  generation, 
the  century  of  our  denominational  existence  may  be  divided 
into  three  periods  or  generations.  The  first  includes  those 
ministers  who  were  in  the  denomination  prior  to  1813,  and 
the  whole  number  is  estimated  at  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
one.  Randall  and  some  twenty  other  co-laborers  had 
passed  over  the  river,  leaving  one  hundred  then  alive.  Ev- 
ery one  of  that  generation  has  long  since  passed  on  to  his 
reward.  At  the  close  of  the  second  period,  in  1847,  there 
were  eight  hundred  and  forty-three  ministers  then  living,  and 
some  two  hundred  and  thirty  had  finished  their  earthly 
course  during  that  generation  and  had  joined  their  brethren 
on  the  heavenly  shore.  At  the  present  time  our  ministry 
numbers  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty-six,  and  dur- 
ing this  period  probably  six  hundred  and  eighty  have  passed 
over  to  receive  their  crown  of  glory.  Thus  we  estimate  that 
not  less  than  two  thousand  three  hundred  names  have  been 
enrolled  on  our  ministerial  record.  Of  this  number  about 
one  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy  are  in  the  ministry, 
and  constitute  the  leaders  of  the  church  militant,  while  nine 
hundred  and  thirty,  we  trust,  are  in  the  church  triumphant. 

At  the  time  of  my  ordination  in  1827  there  were  one 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  Freewill  Baptist  ministers  in  New 
England,  with  all  but  two  or  three  of  whom  I  afterwards  be- 
came acquainted.  Now  only  five  of  them  are  left,  and 
three  of  them,  Woodman,  Jackson,  and  myself,  are  here  to- 
night. And  these  two  brethren  are  the  only  surviving  mem- 
bers of  the  first  General  Conference,  held  that  same  year. 
All  the  delegates  that  composed  the  second  Conference  in 
1828,  thirty-five  in  number,  have  gone  home ;  and  I  am  the 
only  surviving  member  of  the  third  Conference.  Not  a 
member  of  the  fourth  or  fifth  Conference,  in  1830  and  '31, 
is  now  alive,  and  only  two  of  the  sixth  Conference,  Abial 
Moulton  and  myself;  and  I  am  the  only  surviving  member  of 
the  seventh  Conference  in  1833.  Surely  we  can  say,  "The 
fathers,  where  are  they?  "  They  were  true  and  self-sacrificing 
men.  Those  toil-worn,  scar-marked  veterans,  who  stood  at 
their  post  until  they  were  summoned  up  higher,  have  laid 
aside  their  armor  and  gone  up  to  receive  the  white  robe  and 


236  Centennial  Record. 

starry  crown.  But  they  have  left  their  mantle  for  others,  and 
the  influence  of  their  holy  example,  their  burning  zeal  and 
undying  love  for  Christ,  and  their  great  desire  for  the  salva- 
tion of  sinners,  still  live,  and  are  felt  among  us.  Who  can 
say  that  the  spirits  of  Randall,  Colby,  Buzzell,  White,  Phin- 
ney,  Marks,  Lamb,  Burr,  Hutchins,  Knowlton,  Day,  and  a 
host  of  others  are  not  now  hovering  around  us  and  giving  in- 
spiration to  this  occasion?  Most  of  them  were  co-laborers 
with  the  few  aged-  ministers  of  the  second  generation,  who 
are  still  on  duty.  They  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  us, 
my  aged  brethren,  in  many  a  hard  fought  battle  for  truth  and 
freedom. 

We  took  sweet  counsel  together,  while  with  untiring  zeal 
we  toiled  on  for  the  advancement  of  Zion.  Now  while  near- 
ly all  our  fellow-laborers  of  the  second  generation  have  been 
discharged  from  the  war  and  have  passed  over  into  the  prom- 
ised land,  their  deeds  of  Christian  heroism  and  their  precious 
memories  urge  us  forward  in  the  good  cause,  and  beckon  us 
away  to  our  eternal  home. 

"  O  how  sweet  it  will  be  in  that  beautiful  land, 
So  free  from  all  sorrow  and  pain, 
With  songs  on  our  lips  and  with  harps  in  our  hand 
To  meet  one  another  again." 

It  is  now  my  pleasant  duty  and  privilege  to  introduce  to 
you  these  surviving  ministers  of  the  second  period  of  our  de- 
nominational existence.  They  are  all  past  the  age  of  three- 
score and  ten  years  and  are  now  living  on  borrowed  time. 
Most  of  them  have  been  in  the  ministry  over  half  a  century. 
They  are  now  standing  by  their  arms,  with  their  whole  armor 
on,  at  the  river's  brink,  waiting  for  the  orders  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, and  the  boatman  to  take  them  over  to  join 
the  holy  ranks  of  their  comrades,  friends  and  kindred  dear 
who  are  waiting  their  arrival  at  the  gate  of  the  Celestial  City. 

The  fathers  whose  names  follow  were  then  severally  pre- 
sented, and  as  they  were  able  to  recall  scenes  from  sixty  to 
eighty  years  in  the  past,  their  brief  remarks  on  the  changes 
that  have  occurred,  the  blessings  and  trials  they  have  expe- 
rienced, the  purposes  and  prospects  they  cherish,  were 
gratefully  received  by  the  intensely  interested  audience. 


Aged  Ministers, 


237 


AGED  MINISTERS  AT  THE   CENTENNIAL   CONFERENCE,    18S0. 


Name. 

Residence. 

Age. 

Yrs.  in 
Min. 

I 

John  Chaney, 

Auburn,  Me. 

89 

50 

2 

Jonathan  Woodman, 

Jackson,  N.  H. 

82 

62 

3 

Abial  Moulton, 

Stanstead,  P.  Q. 

82 

50 

4 

Gideon  Perkins, 

Lewiston,  Me. 

79 

48 

S 

EBENEZER   FlSK, 

Bristol,  N.  H, 

78 

SO 

6 

Daniel  Jackson, 

Varysburg,  N.  Y. 

76 

54 

7 

Silas  Curtis, 

Concord,  N.  H. 

76 

53 

8 

David  Moody, 

Sutton,  N.  H. 

76 

54 

9 

Chester  P.  Heard, 

Hatley,  P.  Q. 

74 

33 

10 

Dexter  Waterman, 

Laconia,  N.  H. 

73 

52 

II 

Alvah  Buzzell, 

Franklin,  N.  H. 

73 

48 

12 

Hiram  Whitcher, 

Rockport,  N.  Y. 

71 

50 

13 

John  L.  Sinclair, 

Lake  Village,  N.  H. 

71 

45 

14 

John  Cook, 

Burnham,  Me. 

71 

44 

15 

N.  W.  BIXBY, 

Edgewood,  Iowa. 

71 

43 

16 

Sam'l  p.  Ffrnald, 

Melvin,  N.  H. 

71 

49 

17 

Ephraim  Harding, 

Ellsworth,  Me. 

70 

37 

18 

H.  J.  Carr, 

Jackson,  0. 
C237) 

70 

32 

238 


Ccntcnnml  Record. 


OTHER   AGED   MINISTERS   NOT   AT   CONFERENCE. 


Name. 

1  Nath'l  Bowles, 

2  S.  Newell, 

3  Ebenezer  Allen, 

4  Isaac  Peasly, 

5  James  Liuby, 

6  Daniel  Green, 

7  Stephen  Russell, 

8  Barnard  Goodrich, 

9  James  Stevens, 

10  Abel  Hathaway, 

11  H.  G.  Carley, 

12  J.  Carpenter, 

13  B.  H.  McMurphy, 

14  Moses  Folsom, 

15  Jesse  Meader, 

16  I.  W.  MOOKE, 

17  John  Davis, 

18  Jonathan  Fletcher, 

19  I.  Blagdon, 

20  Joseph  Edgecomb, 

21  James  J.  Wentworth, 

22  Jacob  Bodge, 

23  W.  S.  GINN, 

24  Zina  Moulton, 

25  Benjamin  Phelon, 

26  J.  Young, 

27  H.   S.   LIMBOCKER, 

28  Joseph  Fullonton, 

29  Oliver  Butler, 

30  Henry  Gifford, 

31  Isaac  Fullerton, 

32  John  Pinkham, 

33  D.  M.  L.  Rollin,  . 

34  O.  W.  Bridges, 

35  P.  S.  Burbank, 

36  L.  E.  BixBY, 


Residence. 

Bethlehem,  N.  H. 
Nicholsville,  N.  Y. 
E.  Dixmont,  Me. 
Sutton,  N.  H. 
W.  Poland,  Me. 
No.  Sterling,  Vt. 
Waterville,  Me. 
Gardner,  Me. 
Boston,  Mass. 
Wilton,  Me. 
Prospect,  Me. 
Valley  Ford,  O. 
Somerville,  Mass. 
Effingham  Falls,  N.  H. 
Dover,  N.  H. 
Swanville,  Me. 
E.  Tilton.  N.  H. 
Freedom,  N.  H. 
Carmel,  Me. 
Mount  Vernon,  Me. 
Strafford,  N.  H. 
So.  Tamworth,  N.  H. 
Orland,  Me. 
Monroe,  Me. 
Providence,  R.  I. 
Carmel,  Me. 

Reading,  Mich. 

Raymond,  N.  H. 

Chelsea,  Mass. 

Elkader,  Iowa. 

Wait,  Ohio. 

Casco,  Me. 

Byron,  N.  Y. 

Sangerville,  Me. 

So.  Parsonsfield,  Me. 

Edgewood,  Iowa. 


.    Yrs.  in 
^Se.      Mm. 


92 

91 
86 

85 
84 

83 
80 
80 
80 
80 
80 
80 
79 
79 
78 
78 
78 
.  78 
77 
77 
77 
77 
75 
75 
74 
74 
73 
72 

71 
71 
71 
70 
70 
70 
70 
70 


65 
46 

52 

48 

52 
44 


40 


46 
40 
5c 


42 

42 
51 
41 


46 
49 
49 
44 
38 


50 
50 
50 
40 


DENOMINATIONAL  STATISTICS. 


DURING  THE   CENTURY    1780-1880. 


Dates. 

Churches, 

Q.  Ms. 

F.  Ms. 

Ministers, 

Alembers. 

Increase. 

1780 

I 

I 

7 

'83 

13 

I 

4 

2SC* 

273* 

'90 

15 

I 

8 

4CX)* 

120* 

1800 

48* 

6 

4 

30* 

960* 

560* 

'10 

100* 

7 

4 

100* 

3,500* 

2,540* 

'20 

185* 

15 

5 

152 

9,cxx)* 

5.500* 

'25 

273 

23 

7 

190 

16,000* 

7,ooo* 

'27 

304 

24 

7 

250 

18,000 

2,000 

'30 

466 

30 

7 

310 

21,499 

3,499 

'32 

546 

36 

8 

342 

25,270 

3.771 

■35 

750 

55 

10 

481 

33,882 

8,612 

•38 

804 

62 

12 

627 

35.540 

1.658 

■41 

989 

91 

17 

645 

47,478 

11,938 

'44 

1,167 

102 

22 

781 

60,125 

12,647 

■47 

1,178 

"5 

24 

843 

51,944 

Decrease. 

■50 

1,158 

125 

26 

862 

49,657 

" 

■53 

1,130 

129 

28 

889 

50,264 

607 

'56 

1,150 

126 

28 

924 

48,974 

Decrease. 

'59 

1,206 

132 

29 

1. 133 

56,026 

7,052 

•62 

1,285 

142 

31 

1,219 

58,055 

2,029 

'65 

1,297 

145 

31 

1,277 

55,676 

Decrease. 

•68 

1,276 

148 

29 

1,221 

59,211 

3.535 

'71 

1,386 

15s 

34 

1.309 

66,909 

7.698 

'74 

1,504 

161 

35 

1,269 

70.576 

3.667 

'77 

1,464 

168 

38 

1,421 

74.651 

4.075 

'80 

1,446 
mated. 

166 

41 

1,442 

80,520 

5.869 

•Eslli 

(239) 


YEARLY  MEETINGS. 


Names. 

Organ- 
ized. 

Rec'd 

by  Gen. 

Con. 

No. 
when 
Reed. 

No.  in  Q.M 
1880.    1880 

New  Hampshire,  \ 

1792 

1827 

3,681* 

9,104 

8 

Maine  Western,  a  + 

•92 

'27 

2,308* 

4,736 

4 

Maine  Central,  b  t 

'92 

'27 

4,587* 

6,305 

5 

Vermont,  \ 

•92 

'27 

2,241* 

2,928 

6 

Holland  Purchase, 

1821 

■28 

1.650 

2,107 

5 

Ohio, 

'25 

•28 

350* 

647 

2 

Susquehannah, 

■27 

•29 

687 

1.259 

4 

Penobscot, 

'32 

'32 

2  3c^ 

4,514 

8 

Ohio  River, 

33 

'35 

272 

3.415 

7 

Ohio  and  Pennsylvania, 

.34 

'35 

1,667 

1,673 

5 

Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts, 

'37 

'37 

2,205 

6,058 

3 

Michigan, 

'39 

'39 

460 

4,288 

11 

Indiana  Northern, 

•40 

'44 

442 

806 

4 

New  York  and  Pennsylvania, 

'41 

'41 

847 

967 

4 

Illinois, 

'41 

'44 

837 

987 

6 

St.  Lawrence, 

•42 

'44 

793 

560 

2 

Union  (N.  Y.), 

•42 

'44 

803 

903 

2 

Genesee  (N.  Y.), 

'43 

'44 

2,077 

1347 

4 

New  York  Central, 

'43 

'44 

1,649 

2,057 

5 

Indiana, 

■43 

'47 

303 

324 

2 

Pennsylvania, 

'44 

'44 

260 

366 

2 

Wisconsin,' 

'45 

'47 

439 

1,997 

7 

Ontario  (Ca.), 

•46 

'50 

660 

504 

1 

St.  Joseph's  Valley  (Mich.), 

•48 

'53 

i83 

1,025 

4 

Illinois  Central, 

'so 

'so 

289 

2,029 

5 

Iowa, 

'51 

'53 

218 

2,264 

9 

Minnesota, 

■58 

'59 

S8i 

746 

3 

Liberty  Association  (Ind.), 

•68 

556 

556* 

I 

Ohio                "            (Ky.  &  111.), 

•68 

1,069 

1,069* 

1 

Minnesota  Southern, 

•69 

'71 

654 

478 

3 

Shelby  Association  (111.), 

'71 

60a 

600* 

I 

Ohio  Central,  d 

•70 

'71 

1,429 

1,465 

5 

Virginia  Association, 

•70 

'71 

615 

967 

3 

Illinois  Southern, 

'70 

'71 

1,527 

1,883 

3 

Tow  River  Asso.  (N.  C.  &  Tenn.), 

'74 

915 

915* 

2 

Union  Association  (Tenn.), 

'74 

926 

926* 

2 

American  Asso.  (N.  C), 

'74 

S-^7 

517* 

2 

Bengal  and  Orissa, 

'75 

'77 

429 

377 

2 

Louisiana, 

'77 

287 

549 

3 

Kansas  and  Nebraska, 

'77 

'77 

213 

325 

4 

Kentucky, 

•78 

•80 

806 

806 

2 

Ohio  and  Kentucky, 

'79 

•80 

1,171 

1,171 

2 

North  Carolina, 

■80 

4,000 

4,000 

S 

43 

80,520 

166 

'Estimated. 

tTliese  Y.  Ms.  had  one  book  of  Records,  aud  four  sessions  ■were  held  annually, 
one  in  eacli  locality. 

a  Parson etteld  t'oimerly.  b Kennebec  formerly,  d  Uuiou  of  Northern  Ohio,  or- 
ganized 1831),  aud  Marlon,  organized  18-13. 

(240) 


GENERAL  CONFERENCES. 


Place. 


iTunbridge,  Vt. 

Sandwich,  N.  H. 

Spafford,  N.  Y. 

Greenville,  R.  I. 

Wilton,  Me. 

Meredith,  N.  H. 
7  Strafford,  Vt. 
S'Byron,  N.  Y. 
9  Greenville,  R.  I. 

10  Conneaut,  O. 

11  Topsham,  Me, 
12'piainfield,  N.  Y. 
13  Sutton,  Vt. 


14 


Providence,  R.  I. 

I-  Fairport,  N.  Y. 

i6'Maineville,  O. 

17  Lowell,  Mass. 

18; Hillsdale,  Mich. 

19  Lewiston,  Me. 

20!  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

21,  Hillsdale,  Mich. 
I 

22  Providence,  R.  I. 

23  Fairport,  N.  Y. 

24  Weirs.  N.  H. 


Tune. 

1 

4 

Oct.  II,  1827. 

"      9. 

28. 

4 

"     10, 

29. 

4 

"     14. 

SC- 

4 

"     12, 

SI- 

4 

"     10, 

S2- 

4 

"      9. 

S3- 

6 

"      7. 

35- 

7 

"      4. 

37- 

6 

"      2, 

39- 

5 

"      6, 

41- 

6 

"      2, 

44- 

7 

"      6, 

47- 

10 

"       2, 

50- 

9 

"      5. 

53- 

8 

"      I. 

56. 

8 

"      5. 

59- 

8 

"      I. 

62. 

8 

"      4. 

65- 

9 

"      7. 

68. 

8 

"      4. 

71- 

8 

"      7. 

74- 

9 

"      3. 

n- 

8 

July  21, 

80. 

9 

t5 


35 
15 
IS 
14 
21 
24 
24 

25 
28 

41 
53 
51 
52 
57 
57 
56 
60 
55 
71 
71 
73 
78 

8£ 

(241) 


Moderators. 


Enoch  Place. 
Nath'l  King. 
Henry  Hobbs. 
S.  Hutchins. 
Benj.  Thorn. 
S.  B.  Dyer. 
S.  Whitney. 

J.  M.  Harper. 


J.  Woodman. 

Martin  Cheney. 
F.  W.  Straight. 
E.  Knowlton. 

E.  B.  Fairfield. 

J.  O'Donnell. 
E.  Knowlton. 
D.W.C.Durgin. 
O.  B.  Cheney. 


Clerks. 


Hosea  Quinby. 

J.M.Yearnshaw, 

"  \P- 1- 
Hosea  Quinby. 
N.  Loring,/.  t, 
Hosea  Quinby. 
Silas  Curtis. 

Wm.  Burr,/.  ^. 
Silas  Curtis. 


D.  Stewart. 


ANNIVERSARIES. 


THE  ANNIVERSARIES  OF  THE  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETIES  HAVE 
BEEN  HELD  IN  OCTOBER  AT  THE  FOLLOWING  TIMES  AND 
PLACES : 


1841 
'42 
43 
'44 

'45 
'46 

'47 
48 

'49 


Topsham,  Me. 
Buxton,  Me. 
Great  Falls,  N.  H. 
Plainfield,  X.  Y. 
Lowell,  ISIass. 
Buxton,  Me. 
Sutton,  Vt. 
Gilford,  N.  H. 
Great  Falls,  N.  H. 


^o 

Providence,  R.  I. 

^I 

West  Lebanon,  Me 

'Sa 

Portland,  Me. 

'S3 

Fairport,  N.  Y. 

'S4 

Saco,  Me. 

'SS 

Dover,  N.  H. 

'S6 

Maineville,  O. 

'57 

Providence,  R.  I. 

THE   ANNIVERSARY  CONVENTION  WAS   ORGANIZED  AT   LAWRENCE, 
MASS.,    OCTOBER    1 3,    1 85  8. 

Meetings  and  Officers  as  follows  : 


J) 

Place. 

President. 

Sec'y  and  Treas. 

Preacher. 

1858 

Lawrence,  Mass. 

Wm.  Burr. 

E.  M.  Tappan. 

'59 

Lowell,  Mass. 

H.  Quinby. 

"            " 

A.  N.  McConoughey. 

■60 

Saco,  Me. 

Wm.  Burr. 

D.  P.  Harriman. 

A.  R.  Bradbury. 

•61 

Sutton,  Vt. 

"        " 

"            " 

J.  Woodman. 

•62 

Hillsdale,  Mich. 

"        " 

I.  D.  Stewart. 

E.  B.  Fairfield. 

'63 

Lowell,  Mass. 

" 

0.  T.  Moulton. 

•64 

Providence,  R.  I. 

"        " 

'■            " 

J.  S.  Burgess. 

'65 

Lewiston,  Me. 

"        " 

"            " 

G.  H.  Ball. 

'66 

Lawrence,  Mass, 

E.  Knowlton. 

"            " 

J.  M.  Bailey. 

•67 

Dover,  N.  H. 

" 

"            " 

G.  T.  Day. 

•68 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

C.  0.  Libby. 

"            " 

James  Calder. 

•69 

Lowell,  Mass. 

J.  Mariner. 

"            " 

Dexter  Waterman. 

■70 

Augusta,  Me. 

E.  Knowlton. 

"            " 

D.  W.  C.  Durgin. 

'71 

Hillsdale,  Mich. 

J.  Mariner. 

"            " 

S.  D.  Bates. 

'72 

Haverhill,  Mass. 

" 

"            " 

C.  F.  Penney. 

'73 

Farmington,  N.  H. 

E.  Knowlton. 

«            •> 

|.  Mariner. 

'74 

Providence,  R.  I. 

0.  B.  Cheney. 

"            " 

0.  E.  Baker. 

'75 

Manchester,  N.  H. 

" 

W.  H.  Bowen. 

•76 

Saco,  Me. 

B.  F.  Hayes. 

«            •< 

J.  A.  Howe. 

'77 

Fairport,  N.  Y. 

S.  P.  Morrill. 

E.  W.  Ricker. 

A.  L.  Houghton. 

'78 

Lyndon,  Vt. 

W.H.Bowen. 

"           " 

P.  W.  Perry. 

'79 

Olneyville,  R.  I. 

C.  F.  Penney. 

"           " 

G.  C.  Waterman. 

•80 

Boston,  Mass. 

D.  W.  C.  Durgin. 
[At  Weirs, 

(242) 


FOREIGN  MISSION  SOCIETY. 


OFFICERS   AND    RECEIPTS. 


J.  Buzzell. 


Vrs.      Presidents. 

1833 
■34 
'35 
•36 
'37 
•38 
'39 
'40 

'41 
'42 
'43 
■44 
■45 
■46 

'47 


49 
'so 
'SI 
'52 
'S3 
'54 
'55 
'56 
'57 
■58 
'59 
'60 
'61 
'62 

'63 
•64 
'65 
"66 
•67 
"68 
•69 
•70 

'71 
•72 

'73 
'74 
'75 
■76 

'77 
•78 

'79 
'80 


E.  Place. 

J.  Woodman. 


Rec.  Sec. 


H.  Quinby. 


A.  Caverno. 
D.  Waterman 


J.  Stevens. 
C.  O.  Libby. 

T.  Stevens. 


E,  Kncw'ton, 


J.  Rand. 


D,  P.  Cilley. 
G,  P.  Ramsey. 
O.  B,  Cheney. 

F.  Moulton. 

D.  P.  Harriman 


D.W.C.Durmn. 


Cor.  Sec. 


D.  P.  Cilley. 


E.  Mack. 


E.  Hutchins. 


Treasurer. 


I.  N.  San- 
"      [born, 

W.  Burr. 


C.  S.  Perkins. 


P.  W.  Perry. 
A.  C.  Hogbin. 
O.  B.  Cheney. 


O.  R,  Bachelor 
C.  O.  Libby. 


:.  O.  Libby. 


J.  L.  Phillips. 
C.  S  .Perkins, 


N.  Brooks. 
S.  Curtis. 


Raised. 

i    368.98 

986.17 

1.305-30 

84377 

1.459-79 
1,826.27 
2,641.71 
2,008.36 
3.137-32 
3.550-42 

2,511-15 
2,122.84 

3.425-89 
3,219.21 
3,544.00 
5,618.63 
2,992.20 

4.215-31 
4,958.14 

4.475-98 
6,245.93 
6,107.01 

4.174-23 
7,602.46 
3,048.26 
4.012.55 
4,122.68 
6,012.77 
3.868.51 

5.769-47 
5.968.86 
10,505.41 
12,962.48 
15,666.68 
14,630.96 
11,868.80 
9,480.17 
10,487.68 
11,167.86 
10,962.17 
15.778-98 
14.996.65 

13.693-83 
8,024.34 

11.243-43 

14,970.98 

8,390.42 

14.764-54 

3331,785-55 


(243) 


FOREIGN  MISSIONARIES. 


Name. 


Eli  Noyes,  from 

Clementine  Pierce  Noyes, 

Jeremiah  Phillips, 

Mary  E.  Bedee  Phillips, 

Mary  Ann  Grimsditch  PhiUips, 

O.  R.  Bacheler, 

Catherine  E.  Palmer  Bacheler, 

Hannah  Cummins  (Mrs.  J.  Phillips') 

James  C.  Dow, 

Hannah  Bacon  Dow, 

Sarah  P.  Merrill  (Mrs.  Bacheler) 

Ruel  Cooley,  ' 

Harriet  Baldwin  Cooley, 

Lavina  Crawford, 

Benjamin  B.  Smith, 

Dorcas  Folsom  Smith, 

Henry  Covill, 

E.  C.  B.  Hallam, 

Emily Hallam, 

Arthur  Miller, 

Priscilla  Hallam  Miller, 

James  L.  Phillips,* 

Mary  R.  Savles  Phillips 

Julia  E.  Phillips*  (Mrs.  Burkholder), 

Mrs.  Hallam  (second  wife) 

A.J.Marshall, 

Emily  Phillips*  Marshall, 

Libbey  Cilley, 

R.  D.  Frost, 

Richard  M.  Lawrence, 

Susan  R.  Libby, 

Mary  E.  French, 

Ida  O.  Phillips, 

Thomas  W.  Burkholder 

Hattie  P.  Phillips,* 

Frankie  Millard  (Mrs.  Lawrence), 

Jessie  B.  Hooper, 

Milo  J.  Coldren, 

Mary  Bacheler  (Zanana  Teacher) , 


•These  members  of  the  Phillips  family  were  born  in  ludi; 
(244) 


HOME  MISSION  SOCIETY. 


OFFICERS   AND   RECEIPTS. 

Yrs. 

President. 

liec.  Sec. 

Cor.  Sec. 

Treasurer. 

Raised. 

1834 

S.  B.  Dyer 

A.  Cavemo 

D.  Marks 

W.  Burr 

$ 

■35 

" 

" 

W.  Burr 

209.98 

•36 

" 

" 

E.  Mack 

" 

72373 

'37 

" 

" 

1,166.00 

'38 

" 

" 

871.07 

■39 

J.  M.  Harper 

J.  Fullonton 

S.  Curtis 

816.39 

•40 

J.  Woodman 

J.  C.  Hill 

'• 

164.89 

'41 

S.  Whitney 

" 

430.20 

•42 

E.  Hutchins 

" 

377-95 

'43 

E.  Place 

R.  Dunn 

317-31 

'44 

N.  King 

].  Fullonton 

448.26 

'45 

" 

E.  True 

872.19 

■46 

" 

0.  B.  Cheney 

2,271.14 

'47 

J.  M.  Harper 

D.  S.  Frost 

829.93 

•48 

J.  L.  Sinclair 

" 

2,102.55 

'49 

N.  Brooks 

658.98 

'50 

T.  Perkins 

1, 

1.449-97 

'51 

•' 

" 

3.059-13 

'52 

" 

" 

1,265.56 

'53 

" 

P.  S.  Burbank 

3.253-05 

'54 

" 

" 

3.486.56 

'55 

" 

L.  B.  Tasker 

4.025.51 

'56 

E.  Place 

' 

4,088.88 

'57 

•' 

' 

2,195.29 

■58 

" 

' 

2,115.82 

'59 

H.  Quinby 

' 

1,845.46 

■60 

" 

* 

II 

2,323.64 

'61 

** 

' 

3,072.24 

'62 

" 

' 

2,916.93 

'63 

" 

' 

5.576.78 

'64 

J.  L.  Sinclair 

' 

" 

6,928.77 

'65 

J.  Rand 

" 

13.847-IS 

'66 

" 

J.  y.  Butler 

S.  Curtis 

15.449-33 

'67 

" 

I.  D.  Stewart 

16,114.38 

"68 

J.  L.  Sinclair 

J.  Mariner 

13,661.47 

•69 

" 

J.  A.  Lowell 

G.  H.  Ball 

10,783.14 

•70 

" 

S.  Curtis 

" 

12,735-97 

'71 

S.  Curtis 

I.  D.  Stewart 

J.  S.  Burgess 

8,302.64 

'72 

" 

*' 

A.  H.  Chase 

6,822.76 

'73 

" 

L.  B.  Tasker 

" 

10,126.61 

'74 

E.  W.  Page 

'• 

9,151.61 

'75 

" 

J.  A.  Lowell 

J,  S.  Burgess 

7.654-56 

•76 

" 

" 

5.135-51 

'77 

E.  W.  Porter 

A.  L.  Gerrish 

5,614.21 

'78 

" 

G.  F.  Mosher 

" 

4.845-89 

'79 

L.  W.  Anthony 

" 

" 

5.634-34 

'80 

6,321.10 

$212,064.83 

(245) 


HOME  MISSIONARIES. 


Name. 

Field  of  Labor. 

Date. 

Name, 

Field  of  Labor. 

Date, 

Abbey,  M.  H. 

Freedmen 

*i864 

Lord,  John 

Maine 

'43 

Andrus,  A.  C. 

Ind.  &  111. 

•38 

Manning,  J.  S. 

Freedmen 

■65 

Atwood,  M. 

Nova  Scotia 

•46 

Morrell,  A.  H. 

" 

'67 

Baker,  Joel 

Freedmen 

•64 

Neally,  B.  F. 

N.  Y.  &  Mich, 

'35 

Belknap,  P.  W .• 

Wis. 

•48 

Nickerson,  S.  S. 

Freedmen 

'63 

Bixby,  N.  W. 

Iowa 

•46 

Pierce,  C. 

*♦ 

•66 

Brackett,  N.  C. 

Freedmen 

•64 

Pinneo,  J.  R. 

Penn. 

■48 

Carey,  R.  M. 

Wis. 

•42 

Pitman,  S.  J. 

Ohio 

■35 

Clark,  S.  M. 

Freedmen 

•66 

Purinton,  C. 

Maine 

•66 

Cooley,  R. 

" 

•65 

Rice,  A. 

Freedmen 

'65 

Davis,  I.  G. 

Nova  Scotia 

•46 

Scott,  Edward 

" 

•64 

Davis,  K.  R. 

'• 

•46 

Sewall,  C.  M. 

111. 

•42 

Dodge,  Asa 

Mich. 

■38 

Shaw,  J.  A. 

Freedmen 

'65 

Donaldson,  A. 

Iowa 

'S3 

Smith,  C.  H. 

Wis. 

'57 

Dunjee,  J.  W. 

Freedmen 

'74 

Smith,  J.  B. 

Ca.  Fugitives 

'S3 

Dunn,  Ransom 

111.  &  Wis. 

"54 

Smith,  S.  F. 

Wis.  &  Minn. 

'49 

Eaton,  Wm.  F. 

Freedmen 

'64 

Star,  D.  S. 

Wis. 

•46 

Fuller,  S. 

" 

•64 

Stevens,  John 

Maine 

'37 

Gifford,  Henry 

Iowa 

'54 

Stinson,  R. 

" 

•42 

Given,  L, 

Freedmen 

•66 

Stockman,  E.  A. 

Freedmen 

'65 

Hamlin,  W.  B. 

111. 

'53 

Tarbox,  M.  H. 

Maine 

•66 

Harding,  J.  C. 

Iowa 

'S3 

Tasker,  L.  B. 

Freedmen 

•67 

Harris,  H.  W. 

Nova  Scotia 

•48 

Taylor,  T.  0. 

Ala. 

'74 

Hayden,  W. 

Minn. 

'S5 

True,  C. 

Freedmen 

'65 

Henderson,  M. 

C.  Nova  Scotia 

■42 

Turner,  Abel 

Maine 

'53 

Hol,mes,  D.  G. 

111. 

'71 

Wesscher,  J.  H. 

111. 

'54 

Johnson,  J. 

Freedmen 

'65 

Woodman,  J. 

N.  E.  &  N.  Y. 

'36 

Jordan,  C. 

" 

•65 

Woodward,  A.  ^ 

.  Freedmen 

•65 

Julian,  S.  L. 

Mich.  &.  111. 

'36 

Young,  Zebina 

Vermont 

'36 

Knowlton,  E. 

Freedmen 

•64 

•The  year  service  commenced. 


(246) 


TEACHERS  OF  THE  FREEDMEN, 

EMPLOYED    BY   THE    HOME   MISSION   SOCIETY. 


Baker,  Miss  A. 
Baker,  Mrs.  Adelia 
Baker,  Miss  Hattie  A. 
Beckwith,  D. 
Brackert,  Mrs.  L.  W. 
Brackett,  Miss  L.  E. 
Buzzell,  Miss  A. 
Cady,  Mrs.  H. 
Carroll,  E.  M. 
Caudle,  Miss  E.  M. 
Church,  Miss  Abbie  M. 
Clark,  Mrs.  M. 
Clemmer,  Miss  Fannie 
Crockett,  Miss  Fannie 
Deering,  Miss  E.  E. 
Dudley,  Miss  Annie  S. 
Dunn,  Mrs.  Anna  A. 
Eaton,  Mrs.  Sarah  D. 
Eveleth,  Miss  M.  E. 
Foster,  Miss  Sarah  J. 
Fowler,  R.  M. 
Fuller,  Mrs.  Lydia 
Gillespie,  Miss  Sarah  P. 
Gibbs,  Miss  S.  L. 
Gilmore,  Miss  L.  A. 
Haight,  Mrs.  — . 
Hargene,  Miss  S. 
Harper,  Miss  Zilpah  R, 
Hathaway,  Miss  H. 
Healey,  M.  W. 
Holmes,  Mr.  John 
Houghton,  Mr.  A.  L. 
Jackson,  Mrs.  Sarah 
Jones,  Mr. 


*i866 

Joy,  Mr.  Wellington 

1865 

•64 

Johnson,  Mrs.  L.  F. 

•64 

•64 

Keyes,  Mr.  H. 

•67 

•66 

Keyes,  Mrs.  H. 

•67 

•65 

Keyes,  Mr.  H.  E. 

•67 

•68 

Leavitt,  Miss  Ellen  A. 

•64 

'65 

Libby,  Miss  Phebe  P. 

•64 

•65 

Mains,  Mrs.  Climena 

•65 

•66 

Manning,  Miss  D. 

■65 

•65 

Miller,  Miss  M.  J. 

•65 

'64 

Nickerson,  Mrs.  Bofinda  B. 

•64 

•66 

Oliver,  Miss  E.  S. 

•66 

•67 

Piper,  Mr.  John  W. 

•66 

•66 

Robinson,  Mr.  Jesse 

•67 

■67 

Russell,  Miss  Sophie  E. 

•65 

'65 

Scott,  Mrs.  Mary  A. 

•64 

•66 

Shaw,  Mrs.  Annie  M. 

•64 

•64 

Sheldon,  Mr.  M.  L. 

•64 

•66 

Sheldon,  Mrs.  A.  F. 

•64 

■65 

Smith,  Mrs.  Martha  \V.  L. 

•64 

•66 

Somes,  Mrs.  M.  M. 

•65 

•64 

Storum,  Mr.  James 

•68 

•64 

Stowers,  Miss  M.  J. 

•66 

•65 

Stuart,  Miss  Emily 

•64 

•66 

Stuart,  Miss  Jennie 

•64 

'67 

Stuart,  Miss  June 

•64 

•67 

Tolford,  Mr.  Philip  C. 

■64 

•64 

Tuttle,  E.  A. 

'66 

•65 

Watson,  Mr.  J.  F. 

'65 

•68 

Weller,  J. 

•66 

•68 

Whitten,  Miss  Emily  J. 

•67 

,68 

Wood,  Mrs.  Lucinda  E. 

•64 

•67 

Woodward,  Mrs.  F.  M. 

•65 

•67 

Wright,  Miss  Anna 

'65 

*Date  when  service  commenced. 


(247) 


CHURCHES  ASSISTED 

BY  THE   HOME   MISSION   SOCIETY. 


Athens 

Augusta 

Auburn 

Bangor 

Bath,2iid 

Bath,  North  St. 

Bethel 

Biddeford 

Brunswick 

China 

Cornishville 

Dalton 

Dexter 

Dover 

East  Dixfield 

Exeter 

Farmington 

Hallovvell 

Harrison 

Houlton 

Kendall's  Mills 

Leeds 

Levviston 

Pine  St. 


Date.       Yrs* 


50 
•61 

'49 
'45 
•70 
'72 

■51 
'66 

'55 
'53 
•70 
•69 

'51 
'68 
■70 
'60 
'47 
'71 
•67 
'63 
•63 
•48 

'71 


9 

5 

13 

4 

I 

3 

I 

4 


Lisbon 

Madison 

Mechanic's  Falls 

Milo 

New  Gloucester 

Newport 

North  Berwick 

North  Parsonsfield 

Patten 

Portland 

Richmond 

Rockland 

Sabattisville 

Saco 

Shapleigh 

South  Berwick 

South  Buxton 

Standish 

Steep  Falls 

Unity 

Unity  and  Tliorndike 

Wayne 

Winnegance 


Date. 
'61 
•66 
'60 
'S2 
•67 
•68 

'49 
■49 
'73 
'43 
•68 
'52 
'52 
49 
•67 

'so 
'68 

'51 

'52 
'73 
'53 
'65 
■67 


Yrs* 
6 


NEW   HAMPSHIRE. 


Concord 

East  Rochester 

"    Tilton 

"    Washington 
Farmington 
Franklin 
Gonic 
Lancaster 
Lee 

Littleton 
Manchester,  Mer.  St. 


Newport 
North  Danville 


45 
'66 
'67 
'74 
'54 
'71 
'72 
'79 
'65 
'71 
'74 


71 


Manchester,  Pine  St. 
Meredith  Village 
Milton 

Moultonboro' 
New  Durham 
North  Weare 
Ossipee  Corner 
Portsmouth 
Raymond 
Rochester 
Wihnot  Flat 


VERMONT. 


Plymouth 
South  Barton 


'54 
'62 

'74 
•66 
•70 
'71 
'52 
49 
74 
'69 


'69 


16 


ap7ripHaUon'c'2menc"ed!''''  """^  ""'  ""^  '^'''  *°  ^^^"^  «»«^  "''^  '^^^  date  when 

(248) 


Churches  Assisted. 


South  Wlieelock 
St.  Johnsbury 
West  Charleston 


Amesbury 
Boston 
Fall  River 
Haverhill 
Lawrence 


Carolina  Mills 

Newport 

New  Shoreham 

Pawtucket 

Pawtuxet 


70 
■70 
•68 


SO 
'44 
'50 
'59 
■46 


S3 
48 

Vs 

'66 
'49 


West  Derby 

Westmore 

Wheelock 


MASSACHUSETTS. 


LA'nn 
Natick 
Roxbury 
South  Boston 
Taunton 


RHODE  ISLAND. 


•68 

•69 
'50 


•46 
•70 

'52 

'^o 

■61 


Providence,  Greenwich    ^71  3 

Park  St.  [St. '63  13 

Fond  St.        '73  4 

Warren                             '65  3 


Danielsonville 


Brockport 
Buffalo 
Caroline  Can. 

Ellenburg 
Elmira 
Lowville 
Marilla 


South  Vineland 


Bellevemon 
Harrisburg 


Albany 
Cleveland 
East  Liberty 
Lodomillo  and  Delhi 


Evansville 
Ridgeville 


S3 


SI 

'35 
72 

'73 
'71 
■61 

'73 


•64 
'70 


57 
•48 

■65 
'52 


■38 
■69 


CONNECTICUT. 

5  Westford 

NEW  YORK. 


14 


New  York 

Norwich 

Phoenix 

Rochester 

Three  Mile  Bay 

Utica 


NEW  JERSEY. 

'67  I  Elwood 


PENNSYLVANIA. 

I  Jefferson 

2 

OHIO. 

2  Macedonia 
6  Medina 

1  Middleport 

3  Springfield 

INDIANA. 

2  Washington 
2 

(249) 


'76 


'49 

16 

•69 

4 

'sr 

4 

■45 

II 

'47 

4 

'4; 

I 

7^ 


'(>l 


•56 
■51 
•66 

'79 


72 


Chiiixhcs  Assisted. 


MICHIGAN. 


Burlington 

Capac 

Decatur 

Grand  Ledge 

Hillsdale 

Howard 

Hudson 


Blackberry  Station 

Cairo 

Chicago 

Dover 

Elgin 

Fairbury 

French  Grove 

Hamilton 


Berlin 
Fon-du-lac 
Johnstown 
Pike  Grove 


Minneapolis 


Clay 

Mitchell 

Postville 


73 
■75 
'39 
'75 
'55 
•36 
'54 


'57 
'74 
'65 
'44 
'42 

■71 
'41 
•64 


•61 
'SI 
'43 

'47 


55 


•67 
•64 
'74 


Jackson 

Lansing 

Northport 

Osseo 

Town  4 

Volina 


Kewanee 
Livingston 
Mendota 
McHenry 
Mound  City 
Pine  Creek 
Quincy 
Warren 


WISCONSIN. 

10  Racine 

4  Richland 

I  Waupun 
I 

MINNESOTA. 

9  S.  Anthony 

IOWA. 


49 
'49 
•69 

I 
2 

'74 
■36 
'3S 

2 

I 
2 

•66 

3 

'43 

I 

■70 
'67 

2 
I 

'74 

3 

'39 

I 

'43 
'56 

2 
2 

'SI 
•66 

'57 

5 
7 
6 

Sac  City 
Waterloo 


51 


75 
•67 


Kirkville 


Richmond 


New  Orleans 


•67 


74 


73 


VIRGINIA. 


LOUISIANA. 


Note.  Here  are  one  hundred  and  sevent)'-one  churches ;  a  greater  number 
has  doubtless  been  assisted  by  the  sixty  missionaries  and  all  the  Q.  I\L  and 
Y.  M.  appropriations,  so  that  the  entire  number  aided  may  be  estimated  at 
three  hundred  and  fifty, 

(250) 


EDUCATION  SOCIETY. 


OFnCERS   AND   RECEIPTS. 


Yrs.  1      President. 

Rec.  Sec. 

Cor.  Sec. 

Treasurer. 

Raised. 

1840  S.  Whitney 

S.  Curtis 

J.  J.  Butler 

J.  M.  Harper 

% 

■41 

" 

" 

" 

W.  Burr 

572.98 

•42 

" 

" 

P.  S.  Burbank 

496.61 

■43 

M.  Cheney 

" 

" 

299-55 

'44 

J.  Chaney 

D.  S.  Heffron 

" 

243.06 

■45 

" 

" 

" 

570.92 

•46 

" 

A.  K.  Moulton 

'• 

1,257.40 

■47 

" 

D.  S.  Frost 

" 

37440 

•48 

E.  Hutchins 

" 

E.  B.  Fairfield 

5.142.8s 

■49 

" 

" 

0.  B.  Cheney 

935-97 

■50 

" 

r.  D.  Stewart 

" 

3,567.21 

'51 

" 

" 

" 

2.314-7S 

■52 

" 

A.  R.Bradbuiy 

" 

1,203.76 

S3 

P.  S.  Burbank 

" 

" 

1.247-38 

!54 

" 

" 

" 

2.823.55 

55 

" 

" 

" 

1.239.45 

156 

H.  Quinby 

" 

" 

1,760.05 

57 

" 

" 

" 

1,693.47 

■58 

" 

I.  D.  Stewart 

•' 

1,476.90 

'59 

T.  Perkins 

" 

" 

1,216.64 

•60 

P.  S.  Burbank 

J.  Runnells 

I.  D.  Stewart 

1.505.78 

'61 

" 

A.  K.  Moulton 

1,479.70 

■62 

" 

" 

692.76 

■63 

" 

" 

" 

2,030.17 

64 

D.  M.  Graham 

" 

" 

S.  Curtis 

2,048.35 

65 

" 

" 

" 

3.299.01 

66 

" 

" 

" 

1,250.00 

;67 

0.  B.  Cheney 

" 

" 

4,972.71 

68 

" 

" 

W.  H.  Bowen 

4,000.00 

;69 

" 

" 

" 

3.083.59 

70 

G.  T.  Day 

D.W.C.Durgin 

" 

504.21 

■71 

" 

" 

" 

1,629.27 

72 

" 

" 

" 

592-54 

73 

" 

" 

" 

739-44 

74 

G.C.Waterman 

" 

414.30 

'75 

W.  H.  Bowen 

" 

E.  N.  Fernald 

1,924.86 

•76 

" 

" 

" 

2.399-74 

'77 

" 

" 

" 

1,417-43 

•73 

" 

" 

" 

1,998.69 

'79 

" 

C.  A.  Bickford 

" 

2,188.71 

■30 

" 

" 

Arthur  Given 

2.1 15.39 

Jotham  Parson 

>'s  Donations  and  Legacy 

15,000.00 

Total  Receipts* 

$83,723.55 

»These  tipurps   do  not  Include  the  Interest    money   from  the   invested  funds, 
which  has  been  between  three  and  four  tliousand  dollars  annually  for  many  years. 

(251) 


LITERARY  INSTITUTIONS. 


Name. 

s 

i 

::5 

'SI 

II 

.2 

Si 
<_ 

I 

•A  5: 
">i 

Atvvood  Institute 

1850 

I 

i>5oo 

22 

3,000 

Bates  College 

1863 

6 

loo.coo 

134,000  7,800 

10 

140 

260 

209 

Cheshire  Academy* 

1858 

I 

Geauga  Seminary* 

1844 

I 

Green  Mountain  Seminary 

1862 

I 

20,000 

300 

2 

38 

1,000 

3 

Hillsdale  College 

1855 

S 

75,000 

140,000  7,ooo|20 

438 

7.500 

450 

LjTidon  Institute 

1869 

I 

25,000 

2,000 

280 

3 

60 

743 

22 

Maine  Central  Institute 

1866 

I 

30,000 

300 

5 

no 

2,200 

14s 

Maine  State  Seminary* 

I8SS 

Michigan  Central  College* 

1844 

2 

700 

New  Hampton  Institution 

1853 

6 

30,000 

6,000 

4,000  10 

7,000 

400 

Nichols  Latin  School 

I 

200 

3 

69 

1,000 

340 

Parsonsfield  Seminary 

1832 

2 

1,000 

100 

3 

112 

1,500 

Pike  Seminary 

1856 

I 

11,000 

20,000 

450 

5 

95 

1,500 

75 

Ridgeville  College 

1867 

I 

30,000 

27,500 

200 

5 

no 

1,200 

9 

Rio  Grande  College 

1875 

2 

32,000 

200 

4 

46 

269 

15 

Rochester  Seminary 

1871 

I 

2 

41 

500 

10 

Smithville  Seminaryf 

1840 

3 

4,000 

Storer  College 

1869 

6 

40,000 

13,800 

3,000 

8 

200 

800 

62 

Strafford  Academy 

1834 

I 

2.000 

5,000 

100 

2 

50 

1,200 

West  Virginia  College 

1868 

I 

15,000 

600 

2 

38 

250 

Whitestown  Seminaryf 

1844 

4 

48,000 

1,328 

8 

136 

10,000 

400 

Wilton  Collegiate  Institutef 

i860 

I 

'Discontinticd. 

+No  loiiKer  DeiiomiiiiUioiuU. 

JEstiiiiiitud. 


(252) 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  UNION. 


Vn. 

1836 
'37 
■38 
■39 
■40 

'41 
'42 
'43 
'44 
■45 
■46 

■47 
■48 

■49 
'5° 
'51 
■52 
■53 
'54 
'SS 
•56 
'57 
■58 
'59 
•60 
'61 
'62 

■63 
•64 

•65 
•66 

•67 
•68 
•69 
•70 
'71 
'72 
'73 
'74 
'75 
•76 

'77 
'78 
'79 
'So 


President. 
S.  Runnells 

J.  Keser 

E.  Hutchins 

J.  L.  Sinclair 

A.  Cavemo 
S.  Whitney 
E.  Place 


E.  Knowlton 


H.  Quinby 
E.  Hutchins 
G.  H.  Ball 
D.  P.  Cilley 
J.  H.  Locke 


J.  S.  Burgess 
B.  F.  Hayes 

A.  H.  Morrell 
E.  Manson 

J.  A.  Lowell 


R.  P.  Perry 


E.  W.  Porter 


Rcc.  Sec, 

E.  Mack 
J.  1.  Butler 
J.  Fullonton 


G.  T.  Day 

^L  J.  Steere 

S.  N.  Tufts 
H.  Whitcher 


Cor.  Sec. 

E.  Mack 
J.  J.  Butler 
J.  Fullonton 


Treasurer. 
Wm.  Burr 


J.  L.  Sinclair  J.  L.  Sinclair 

E.  B.  Fairfield  E.  B,  Fairfield 

J.  Fullonton  J.  Fullonton 


G.  T.  Day 


M.  J.  Steere 
M.  C.  Morse 


S.  N.  Tufts 
H.  Whitcher 


E.G.Chaddock  E.G.Chaddock 

L.  R.  Burlin-  L.  R.  Burlin- 

"        [game  "       [game        L.R  .Burlin- 

"  E.  W.  Page  "  [game 

"  "  D.  Lothrop 

L  D.  Stewart  " 

G.  C.Waterman  "  " 

H.  F.  Wood 
L.  L.  Harmon  "  " 


H.  F.  Wood 


(253) 


TEMPERANCE  SOCIETY. 


A  TEMPERANCE  CONVENTION  WAS  HELD  IN  CONNECTION  WITH 
THE  ANNIVERSARIES,  COMMENCING  IN  1 866,  WITH  OFFICERS 
AS   FOLLOWS  : 


iS66    J.  Calder,    President. 
•67     M.  Phillips, 


C.  S.  Perkins,    Secretary. 
W.  M.  Jenkins,        " 


•69 

'70     ].  Rand, 


E.  N.  Fernald, 


THE  TEMPERANCE  SOCIETY  WAS  ORGANIZED  AT  HILLSDALE, 
MICH.,  OCT.  II,  187 1,  AND  ITS  OFFICERS  HAVE  BEEN  AS 
FOLLOWS  : 


Yrs.      President. 
1871     M.  Phillips. 
'72    D.  Boyd. 
'73 

'74        -  " 
'75 
■76 

'jj    A.  L.  Gerrish. 
•78 

'79 
■£o 


Secretary,  Rec.  &  Cor. 
A.  P.  Tracy. 


G.  S.  Ricker. 
H.  F.  Wood. 


(254) 


Treastirer, 
J.  A.  Howe. 
L.  W.  Anthony. 


A.  A.  Harrinsrton. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  SOCIETY, 

ORGANIZED    AT   SUGAR    HILL,    LISBON,    N.   H.,    JUNE    8,    1 843. 


Yrs. 

1S43 
'44 
45 
46 

'47 

48 

49 


President. 
J.  Woodman 

D.  Waterman 
R.  Dunn 

J.  Chaney 

E.  Fisk 
S.  Curtis 


M.  W.  Burlingame 


C.  O.  Libby 
W\  H.  Littlefield 
J.  L.  Sinclair 


G.  T.  Day 
O.  B.  Cheney 
O.  T.  Moulton 


Rec.  Sec. 
G.  P.  Ramsey 

D.  P.  Cilley 


D.W.C.Durs^in 


Cor.  Sec. 
I.  C.  Dame 
E.  Noyes 
j.  Fullonton 
A,  K.  Moulton 


J.  Fullonton 
I.  D.  Stewart 

D.  S.  Frost 
T.  J.  Butler 
D.  P.  Harriman 


G.  H.  Ball 

D.  P.  Cilley 

D.  W.  C.  Durgin 


P.  S.  Burbank 
W.  H.  Bowen 


Treasurer. 
W.  Burr 


S.  P.  Morrill  A.  D.  Smith  A,  D,  Smith 

The  Society  dissolved ;  Slavery  having  been  constitutionally  abolished. 

(255) 


WOMAN'S  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY. 


OFFICERS    AND    RECEIPTS. 

This  Society  was  organized  at  Sandwich,  N.  H.,  June  12, 

1873- 

Mrs.  L.  R.  Burhngame  has  been  President  from  the  date 
of  its  organization,  and 

Miss  L.  A.  DeMeritte  has  been  Treasurer. 


Yrs. 

Hec.  Sec. 

Cor.  Sec. 

Home  Sec. 

Receipts 

1873 

Mrs.  M.  W.  L. 

Mrs.  B.  F.  Hayes 

Mrs.  L.  Jordan      $ 

538.40 

■74 

"  [Smith 

Mrs.  J.  A.  Lowell 

" 

667.59 

'75 

•' 

" 

Miss  L.  A.  De 

1,108.25 

'76 

" 

" 

"  [Meritte 

1,269.64 

'77 

" 

" 

" 

1,798.03 

•78 

" 

" 

" 

3,691.58 

'79 

Miss  S.  A.  Per- 

■' 

Mrs.  E.  D.  Jordan 

3,126,22 

•80 

"     [kins 

"                         Mrs.  B.  F.  Hayes 
Total                              ^ 

3.550.97 

15,750.68 

MISSIONARIES   AND   TEACHERS. 

Navie.  Sovice  Began.    Field  of  Labor.  Died. 

Susan  R.  Libby,    from  N.  H.    Oct.  17,  1874    Balasore,  India    June  24,  i£ 


Lura  Brackett,  Me. 

Mary  Bacheler,  India 

Ida  Phillips,  Mich. 

Hattie  Phillips,  111. 

Coralie  Franklin  \V.  Va 

The  Society  employs  about  thirty-five  Zenana  Teachers 

(256) 


I,  1876  Harper's  Ferry 

I,  1876  Midnapore,  India 

20,  1877  Balasore,  India 

5,  1878  Midnapore,  India 

I,  1880  Harper's  Ferry 


PUBLICATIONS 


BOOKS. 


Date 

•A 

Name. 

Author. 

of 

^^ 

Issue. 

(5 

Allen's  Two  Mites 

Henry  Allen 

1784 

250 

Andy  Luttrell 

Print.  Estab.  &  Loth. 

•69 

375 

Appeal  to  Conscience 

A  Freewill  Baptist 

1843 

108 

Aunt  Mattie 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•69 

380 

Benevolent  Enterprises 

J.  J.  Butler 

'40 

175 

Biographies  (Names  Alphabetically  ar- 

Bad  Boy                                          [ranged 

P.  E.  &  L. 

■70 

280 

Bad  Girl 

" 

•70 

280 

Barrett  S.  H.,  Biography 

Himself 

'72 

396 

Birthday  Present 

P.  E.  &  L. 

■69 

370 

Bright  Days 

" 

•69 

257 

Book  of  Worship 

P.  E. 

•69 

528 

Bowles  Charles,  Biography 

J.  W.  Lewis 

'52 

288 

Boy's  Heaven 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•68 

165 

Brother  and  Sister 

" 

■69 

215 

Building  Stone 

'• 

•70 

240 

Burr  William,  Biography 

J.  M.  Brewster 

'71 

208 

Butler's  Commentary,  2  vols. 

J.  J.  Butler 

■70 

495 

Butler's  Theology 

" 

'61 

456 

Buzzell's  Hymn  Book 

John  Buzzell 

'23 

348 

Centennial  Minutes  of  R.  I. 

J.  M.  Brewster 

•80 

60 

Centennial  Record 

P.  E. 

■81 

26s 

Cheney  Martin,  Life  of 

G.  T.  Day 

'53 

471 

Choralist 

" 

'59 

248 

Christ  Child 

P.  E.  &  L. 

'68 

160 

Christian  Melody 

A  Committee 

'32 

608 

Christian  Baptism 

G.  H.  Ball 

'60 

85 

Church  Member's  Book 

A.  Turner 

'47 

192 

Church  Records 

\.  D.  Stewart 

■76 

252 

Close  and  Open  Communion 

C.  Kennedy 

•68 

175 

Colby  |ohn,  Life  of 

Himself 

'16 

318 

Daisy  Seymour 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•70 

250 

Day  G.  T.,  Memoirs  of 

W.  H.  Bo  wen 

•76 

431 

Divine  Origin  of  Christianity 

J.  G.  Pike 

'37 

227 

Doctrinal  Views 

P.  E. 

•80 

44 

Doctrine  and  Life  (Sermons) 

23  Authors 

•80 

287 

(257) 


Piihlications . 


Elsa 

Eminent  Preachers 

Evenings  with  the  Children 

Facts  and  Reflections 

Free  Communionist 

Friend  of  Chastity 

Flower  by  the  Prison 

Glencoe  Parsonage 

Golden  Sheaf 

Qood  Boy 

Good  Girl  ' 

Good  Little  Mittie 

Guide  to  the  Lord's  Supper 

Guide  to  the  Savior 

Hester's  Happy  Summer 

Hindu  Mythology 

Hinduism  and  Christianity  in  India 

Hints  for  Living 

History  of  Freewill  Baptists,  vol.  i 

Hebrew  Reader 

Jackson  Daniel,  Life  of 

Jamie  and  Jennie 

Jones'  Church  History 

Judge's  Sons 

Lectures  on  Truth  of  the  Bible 

Lessons  for  Every  Sunday  in  the  Year 

Lute  Falconer 

Making  Something 

Manual  on  the  Trinity 

Marks  David,  Memoir  of 

Master  and  Pupil 

May  Belle 

Memorials  of  Free  Baptists 

Ministers'  Manual 

Minutes  of  Gen.  Conference 

Much  Fruit 

Norton  Lemuel,  Life  of 

Olive  Loring's  Mission 

One  Year  of  My  Life 

Orissa  Mission 

Overcoming 

Persuasives  to  Early  Piety 

Phinney  Clement,  Life  of 


A.  M.  Hogbin 

1879 

S.  H.  Barrett 

'74 

304 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•70 

300 

Mrs.  V.  G.  Ramsey 

•48 

174 

Four  Authors 

'41 

214 

M.  J.  Steere 

•46 

142 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•70 

3^3 

" 

'70 

256 

Mrs.  H.  C.  Phillips 

'80 

118 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•70 

246 

" 

'70 

246 

" 

•68 

160 

G.  H.  Ball 

'52 

142 

A.  Sutton 

'59 

131 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•70 

250 

E.  Noyes 

•46 

92 

O.  R.  Bacheler 

'58 

216 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•70 

160 

L  D.  Stewart 

'62 

479 

E.  Noyes 

•46 

204 

Himself 

'59 

214 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•68 

157 

Wm.  Jones 

'37 

453 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•70 

360 

E.  Noyes 

'53 

364 

G.  H.  Ball 

•68 

168 

P.  E.  &  L. 

■79 

360 

" 

•68 

160 

M.  \V.  Alford 

'42 

120 

Mrs.  M.  Marks 

■46 

516 

P.  E.  &  L. 

'69 

351 

" 

•69 

452 

A.  D.  Williams 

'73 

254 

L  D.  Stewart 

'n 

85 

S.   Curtis  and  L  D. 

'59 

444 

P.  E.  &  L.     [Stewart 

'70 

300 

Himself 

'64 

192 

P.  E.  &  L. 

'70 

400 

" 

'70 

321 

A.  Sutton 

'33 

424 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•69 

400 

J.  G.  Pike 

'37 

250 

D.  IvL  Graham 

■51 

190 

(258) 


Publications. 


Piety  in  Humble  Life 

Betsey  Carroll 

1871 

84 

Pocket  Guide  to  Knowledge 

J.  W.  Barker 

'57 

112 

Precious  Words  (S.  S.  Ques.) 

M.  L.  Clark 

'72 

136 

Prison  Chaplaincy 

H.  Quinby 

'73 

198 

Psalmody 

Compiled 

'S3 

701 

Quarterly  (17  vols.) 

'53- 

480 

Question  Books  (See  Titles) 

Rainy  Day  at  School 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•69 

194 

Randall  Benjamin,  Life  of 

J.  Buzzell 

•27 

308 

Registers  (56  vols.) 

S.  Burbank,  first 

'26- 

96 

Review  of  Butler's  Letters 

H.  Quinby 

'32 

160 

Revival  Harmonist 

J.  W.  Holman 

'44 

107 

Rhode  Island  F.  B,  Pulpit 

A.  D.  Williams 

'52 

398 

Sabrina  Hackett 

P.  E.  k  L. 

•69 

409 

Sacred  Melody  (Two  Compilations) 

Compiled 

■36 

I  So 

Short  Comings 

P.  E.  &  L. 

'70 

269 

Shining  Hours 

P.E. 

•69 

394 

Smart's  Biblical  Doctrine 

M.  M.  Smart 

'43 

330 

Spirit  of  Roger  Williams 

L.  D.  Johnson 

'39 

94 

Spiritual  Songs  (Hymns  and  Music) 

Compiled 

•81 

441 

Strawberry  Hill 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•70 

256 

Starlight  Stories 

" 

■69 

215 

Stevens  John,  Life  of 

0,  Butler 

•78 

120 

Story  of  Jesus  (S.  S.  Ques.) 

Mrs.  M.  L.  Clark 

■67 

96 

Sunny  Skies 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•69 

261 

Susie's  Spectacles 

" 

•70 

316 

Torch  Bearers 

" 

•70 

321 

Thoughts  upon  Thought 

Eng.  Reprint 

'55 

129 

Trapper's  Xeice 

P.E. 

■70 

300 

Treatise  (and  Revision) 

Committee 

'34 

160 

Tribute  of  Praise  (Hymns) 

P.E. 

•76 

300 

True  Happiness 

T.  G.  Pike 

'34 

175 

Trifles 

P.  E.  &  L. 

•70 

297 

When  we  were  Young 

" 

•70 

220 

Who  is  my  Neighbor 

" 

'70 

240 

Willie  Maitland 

" 

•70 

180 

Wonderful  Works  of  Jesus 

M.  L.  Clark 

•67 

128 

Youthful  Christian 

J.  Burns 

'44 

225 

Zion's  Harp 

P.E. 

'44 

144 

(259) 


Publications. 


SERMONS. 

Title. 

Autkot. 

Date. 

Abolition  of  Capital  Punishment 

A  Caverno 

1836 

Apostolic  Succession 

Eli  Noyes 

■51 

Appeal  to  the  Young 

M.  J.  Steere 

Battle  with  the  Archers 

A  Caverno 

'43 

Book  of  Job 

Eli  Noyes 

'51 

Burr  William,  Eulogy  of 

G.  T.  Day 

.67 

Characteristic  Sermon 

J.  S.  Swift 

Christ  Crucified 

Jabez  Burns 

'47 

Christ  for  the  Masses 

J.  M.  L.  Babcock 

'59 

Christian  Patriotism 

E.  B.  Fairfield 

•63 

Christian  Philanthropy 

G.  T.  Day 

'41 

Christian  Wealth 

A.  Given 

•80 

Criminal  Prayer 

Benj.  Phelon 

Crowning  of  Character 

A.  L.  Houghton 

'80 

Christ  our  Example 

P.  W.  Perry 

'80 

Clearer  Light 

E.  W.  Porter 

'80 

Day,  Rev.  G.  T. 

A.  H.  Heath 

'75 

Death  of  a  Child— M.  F.  : 

Herrick 

Benj.  Randall 

'03 

"        John  Brown 

S.  N.  Tufts 

'59 

"        Jonathan  Horn 

J.  B.  Davis 

'59 

"        Rev.  E.  Hutchins 

" 

'59 

Capt.  J.  F.  Little 

;field 

A.  K.  Moulton 

'62 

Carrie  W.  Pendi 

L^xter 

E.  B.  Ladd 

'l^ 

Lilian  E.  Tasker 

S.  C.  Kimball 

,77 

Dedication,  Augusta,  Me. 

S.  Curtis 

'53 

"             New  Hampton,  N.  H. 

Geo.  T.  Day 

'54 

Bunker  Hill,  1 

Mass. 

J.  W.  Holman 

■38 

Desolations  of  Zion 

D.  P.  Harriman 

Divine  Law  of  Increase 

D.  Mott 

•60 

Divine  Agency  in  Human 

Suffering 

R.  Dunn 

■80 

Divine  Guidance 

J.  A.  McKewsie 

Doctrine  of  Future  Life 

J.  J.  Butler 

•80 

Emmanuel 

S.  D.  Church 

•80 

Enthusiasm  of  Humanity 

A.  H.  Heath 

'73 

Everlasting  Kingdom 

G.  C.  Waterman 

■So 

Excellent  Knowledge 

O.  D.  Patch 

"So 

Free  Communion 

A.  N.  McConoughey 

■59 

Freedom  of  the  Will 

Ransom  Dunn 

'59 

Fugitive  Slave  Law 

A.  D.  Williams 

'50 

(260) 


Publications. 


Gladness  of  Heart 

J.  Goadby 

1847 

God,  Source  of  Spiritual  Life 

A.  L.  Gerrish 

,80 

Goodness  and  Severity  of  God 

D.  Mott 

'59 

Gospel  Preacher 

Jos,  Whittemore 

•48 

Gospel  Seed  Corn 

D,  H.  Adams 

•80 

History  of  F.  Baptists  in  R.  I. 

J.      .  Brewster 

'80 

Infants 

J.  B.  Davis 

'49 

Installation  of  O.  B.  Cheney 

D.  Waterman 

•53 

Intermediate  State  of  the  Dead 

Jas.  A.  McKenzie 

'53 

Inviolability  of  Human  Life 

J.  A.  McKenzie 

'42 

Isaiah  25 :  8 

E.  Hutchins 

'39 

Jesus  Walking  on  the  Sea 

C.  S.  Perkins 

•80 

Kinship  with  Christ 

A.  H.  Huling 

■80 

Life  from  Within 

J.  M.  Brewster 

'80 

Man  of  Sorrows 

W.  H.  Bowen 

•80 

Man,  His  Adaptations  and  Relations 

Roger  Ela 

•59 

Matrimony 

M.  J.  Steere 

'55 

Matt.  II :  12 

Wm.  Woodsum 

•61 

Matt.  23 :  33 

H.  Whitcher 

'39 

Ministerial  Gift 

D.  M.  Graham 

'62 

Ministerial  Support 

M.  W.  Burlingame 

Miracles 

Eli  Noyes 

Miracles  of  Satan 

Silas  Curtis 

'39 

Mission  of  Freewill  Baptists 

D,  Waterman 

'59 

Motives  to  Early  Piety 

S.  H.  Barrett 

•6S 

Name  of  Power 

G.  H.  Ball 

•58 

Obedience 

Joel  Spaulding 

'59 

Our  Saviour's  Sermon  on  Mt,  Olivet 

E.  B.  Rollins 

'60 

Pastoral  Duties 

Martin  Cheney 

'37 

Plan  of  Salvation 

0.  E.  Baker 

•80 

Prayer  and  Duty 

T.  A.  LoweU 

'80 

Popery 

B.  D.  Peck 

'45 

Posture  in  Prayer 

0.  T.  Moulton 

Power  of  Character 

B.  F.  Hayes 

•80 

Quarterly  Meeting  Sermon 

Joel  Spaulding 

'41 
'58 

Reconstruction 

E.  B.  Fairfield 

Reflex  Influence  of  Benevolence 

B.  D.  Peck 

Reflex  Influence  of  Foreign  Missions 

J.  L.  Phillips 

•80 

Resurrection 

Reuben  Allen 

Salvation  Conditional 

T.  H.  Bacheler 

Sermon 

M.  C.  Brown 

'66 

Sermon  on  the  Mount 

E.  B.  Rollins 

'60 

(261) 


Puhlicattons. 


Signs  of  the  Times 

Sin,  Its  Nature  and  Conditions 

Skepticism  of  Thomas 

Spiritual  Worship  of  the  Bible 

State  of  Infants 

Temperance 

Theological  Research 

Universalism 

Value  of  a  Faithful  Ministry 

Value  of  the  Soul 

Variety  and  Unity  of  the  Church 

Victory  of  Faith 

Walking  with  God 

Way  out  of  Doubt 

What  is  the  Gospel 

What  is  it  to  Preach  the  Gospel 


Joseph  White 

A.  N.  McConoughey 

G.  S.  Ricker 

E.  Noyes 

T.  B.  Davis 

A.  Caverno 

J.  S.  Burgess 

D.  M.  Graham 

G.  T.  Day 

M.  J.  Steere 

James  Rand 

J.  Whittemore 

G.  H.  Ball 

C.  A.  Bickford 

J.  A.  Howe 

Martin  Cheney 


1826 

■80 
'SI 

■49 
'32 
'62 

•56 

'53 
'70 

•So 
'8c 
'So 
'SI 
'51 


MISCELLANY. 


Title. 
Address  to  Farmington  Q.  M. 
"         at  Whitestown  Sem. 
Amateur,  Amph.  Soc.  (Sev.  Nos.) 
Answer  to  Close  Communion 
Apostolic  Succession 
Baptist  Union  (6  vols.) 
Bates  Student  (8  vols.) 
Catechism 

Catalogues  of  all  Lit.  Institutions 
Caverno  Family 
Christian  Baptism 

"         Benevolence 

"  P'reeman  (4  vols.) 

"  Ministry  Contemplated 

"  Soldier  (2  vols.) 

"         Scholar 

"         Usefulness  at  School 
Christians  Marry  only  in  the  Lord 
Church  Discipline 

Covenant  of  Roger  Williams  Church 
Crescent,  Hillsdale  College  (2  vols.) 

(262) 


Aufhor. 
Joshua  Randall 
Geo.  T.  Day 

Robert  Dick 
Eli  Noyes 
Trustees 
Junior  Class 
D.  Marks 


Date. 

'35 
'46 


71- 


A.  Caverno 

H.  Quinby 

H.  Whitciier 

O.  E.  Baker 

Trustees  '67-' 

J.  G.  Pike 

Bachelder  and  Whittemore 

Geo.  T.  Day 

E.  B.  Fernald 

J.  G.  Pike 

J.  Whittemore 

Junior  Class 


42 

77 

73 

3 

74 
'39 
44 
'56 
70 
44 
'42 
■46 
'62 
■43 
•58 
•6S 
'74 


Publications. 


Crisis 

Decision  of  Council,  W.  P.  Merrill 

Dialogues  for  Sunday  Schools 

Discussion  on  Universalism 

Doctrinal  Tracts 

Doctrinal  Confession 

Effective  Speech,  Address 

Evangelist  ( 3  vols.) 

Exposition  of  Present  Truth 

F.  B.  Mission  in  India 

F.  B.  Missionary  (5  Nos.) 

Foster,  Rev.  John  (Memorial) 

Full  Assurance  of  Hope 

Gen.  Statement  of  New  Hampton  Inst. 

Gospel  Rill 

Helper  (3  vols.) 

Hillsdale  Herald  (4  vols.) 

Hobson  Family 

Howe,  Mrs.  E.  R.  (In  Memoriam) 

Immortality  Defended 

Interpretation  of  Revelation 

Issues 

Journal  of  S.  H.  Barrett 

Little  Star  (8  vols.) 

Maine  State  Sem.  Circular 

Manual  for  Missionary  Candidates 

Manual,  Dover,  ist.  church 

"      Park  St.,  Prov.    " 

"      Olneyville  " 

Matrimony 
Minister  and  Church 
Ministerial  Education 
Minutes  of  R.  I.  Asso.  (Many  Nos.) 
Mission  in  India 
Missionary  (3  vols.) 
Modem  Spiritualism 
Morning  Star  (55  vols.) 
Morse,  Rev.  Timothy — Sketch 
Myrtle  (36  vols.) 
Nature  of  Christ  and  Holy  Spirit 
Objections  to  Campbellism 
Ohio  River  Y.  M. 
Our  Work  in  Cities 

(263) 


E.  Mack 

1342 

A  Committee 

■61 

Mrs.  M.  L.  Clark 

•61 

E.  Hutchins 

'42 

H.  Whitcher 

*43 

J.  F.  Joy 

'74 

E.  B.  Fairfield 

'63 

A.  H.  Chase 

'74 

J.  F.  Joy 

•66 

M.  M.  Hutchins 

'56 

'40 

J.  S.  Swift 

■72 

J.  F.  Joy 

•75 

I.  D.  Stewart 

'57 

E.  Hutchins 

Mrs.  J.  M.  Brewster 

•78 

College  Friends 

'77 

J.  M.  Bailey 

'75 

J.  A.  Howe 

'74 

J.  F.  Joy 

'67 

H.  H.  Van  Amringe 

'58 

0.  E.  Baker 

•78 

S.  H.  Barrett 

'47 

Print.  Estab. 

•73 

0.  B.  Cheney 

'61 

,7S 

•80 

•80 

'73 

M.  J.  Stcere 

'55 

G.  H.  Ball 

•67 

A.  D.  Williams 

'S3 

Miss  L.  Crawford 

C.  0.  Libby 

'76-'79 

E.  A.  Stockman 

•65 

Print.  Estab. 

•26- 

" 

•36 

'* 

'45 

J.  G.  Pike 

'32 

T.  E.  Peden 

'63 

D.  M.  Graham 


'67 


Publications. 


Poem 

Poem,  Pioneer  Ministers 

Popular  Amusements  Discarded 

Present  Truth 

Reasons  for  Being  a  Freewill  Baptist 

Reply  to  Vindication  of  Weare  Q.  M, 

Reports  of  all  Benevolent  Societies 

Revolution  Unfinished 

Rose  and  Lily  (i  vol.) 

Sabbath  Schools,  Their  Organization 

Sabbath  School  Repository 

Seventh  Commandment,  Two  Lectures 

Support  of  the  Ministry 

Sustaining  the  Christian  Ministry 

State  of  the  Denomination 

Tracts,  (45  Nos.) 

Truth  to  Make  you  Free 

View  of  F.  B.  Olneyville  Church 

Vindication  of  Boston  Q.  M. 

"  Primitive  F.  Baptists 

Weare  Q.  M. 
Way  of  Life 
Weekly  Offering 
World's  Evangelization 
Zion's  Banner  (2  vols,) 

(264) 


A.  R.  Bradbury 

1S63 

F.  W.  Straight 

■76 

A.  Caverno 

J.  F.  Joy 

•66 

A.  D.  Williams  (8  Tracts) 

A  Committee 

•66 

Enoch  Mack 

■38 

Bacheler  and  Whittemore 

A  Committee 

■36 

Print.  Estab. 

'44 

Benj.  Phelon 

'40 

A.  D.  Williams 

'SS 

E.  Knowlton 

•67 

A  Freewill  Baptist 

■56 

S.  H.  Barrett 

E.  Mack 

'39 

'S7 

A  Committee 

'45 

" 

•60 

" 

'61 

E.  Mack 

'43 

D.  M.  Graham 

E.  B.  Fernald 

'55 

A.  Caverno 

'40 

PRINTING  ESTABLISHMENT. 


PROPRIETORS.     1826-1832. 


PUBLISHING  COM.     1832-1835. 


Henry  Hobbs*  Me., 
Jona.  Woodman,  N.  H,, 
John  Buzzell,*  Me., 
Sam'l  Burbank,*  Me., 
Elias  Libby,*  Me., 
Andrew  Hobson,*  Me., 
Joseph  Hobson,*  Me., 
Mark  Hill,*  Vt, 
Wm.  M.  Davidson,*  Me., 
Wm.  Burr,*  Me., 
Robert  Cole,*  Me., 


1826 


Yrs. 
6 
2 
6 
6 
6 
6 
6 
6 
6 


Yrs. 


Henry  Hobbs,*  Me., 
Samuel  Beede,*  N.  H., 
Wm.  Burr,*  N.  H., 
Hosea  Quinby,*  N.  H., 
Silas  Curtis,  Me., 
D.  P.  Cilley,  N.  H., 
Sam'l  B.  Dyer,*  N.  H., 
Arthur  Caverno,*  N.  H., 


1832 


1833 
1834 


1832 


TRUSTEES.      1835-1846. 


William  Burr,*  N.  H., 

1835 

II 

Charles  Morse,*  Me., 

183s 

9 

Silas  Curtis,  Me., 

" 

II 

Joseph  Hobson,*  Me., 

1839 

7 

D.  P.  Cilley,  N.  H., 

" 

II 

Jonathan  Woodman,  Vt., 

" 

7 

Jacob  Davis,*  N.  H., 

" 

6 

Reuben  Allen,*  R.  I., 

" 

5 

Enoch  Place,*  N.  H., 

" 

II 

Nathaniel  King,*  Vt., 

1 841 

3 

J.  M.  Harper,*  N.  H., 

" 

II 

Ebenezer  Fisk,  N.  H., 

1844 

2 

Sam'l  Burbank,*  Me., 

" 

3 

A.  B.  Bullock,*  N.  Y., 

" 

2 

Truman  Cary,  N.  Y., 

" 

9 

M.  W.  Burlingame,*  R.  I., 

•■ 

2 

Elias  Hutchins,*  N.  H. 

" 

II 

D.  Waterman,  Me., 

'■ 

2 

Seth  C.  Parker,*  O., 

" 

II 

CORPORATORS.     1846-1880. 

Totai 

Total 

Yrs. 

Yrs. 

Wm.  Burr,*  N.  H.. 

1846 

35 

Jonathan  Woodman,  Vt., 

1846 

31 

Silas  Curtis,  N.  H., 

" 

A.  B.  Bullock,*  N.  Y., 

6 

D.  P.  Cilley,  N.  H., 

" 

18 

M.  W.  Burlingame,*  R.  I., 

5 

Enoch  Place,*  N.  H., 

18 

Dexter  WATERMAN,Me. 

J.  M.  Harper,*  N.  H., 

" 

21 

Ebenezer  Fisk,  N.  H., 

12 

Elias  Hutchins,*  N.  H., 

24 

Thomas  Perkins,*  N.  H., 

1847 

12 

S.  C.  Parker,*  O., 

" 

12 

Theodore  Stevens,*  Me., 

33 

Joseph  Hobson,*  Me., 

" 

13 

Mark  Hill,*  Vt., 

1850 

9 

•Deceased.    Present  members  In  small  capitals. 
(265) 


Printing  Establishment. 


G.  H.  Ball,  N.  Y., 

1850 

18 

D.  S.  Heffron,  N.  Y., 

1868 

4 

Ransom  Dunn,  Mich., 

1853 

15 

C.  H.  Latham,  Mass., 

" 

9 

A.  K.  Moulton,*  Mass., 

19 

H.  E.  Whipple,  Mich., 

" 

3 

D.  G.  Holmes,  N.  Y., 

1856 

3 

S.  D.  Bates,  O., 

1S71 

J.  L.  S1NCL.A.IR,  N.  H., 

C.  B.  Mills,  Mich., 

1872 

I.  D.  Stewart,  N.  H., 

1859 

14 

0.  E.  Baker,  Iowa, 

1873 

D.  M.  Graham,  Me., 

9 

B.  F.  Hayes,  Me., 

" 

Ebenezer  Knovvlton,*  Me. 

14 

L.  W.  Anthony,  R.  I. 

" 

John  Raymond,*  Me., 

" 

2 

C.  F.  Penney,  Me., 

1875 

G.  T.  Day,*  R.  I., 

1862 

13 

E.  N.  Fernald,  Me., 

G.  W.  Bean,  Me., 

13 

J.  M.  Brewster,  R.  I., 

" 

L.  B.  Tasker,*  N.  H., 

186S 

7 

E.  W.  Page,  N.  Y., 

1877 

THE    MORNING   STAR. 


editors. 

publishers. 

John  Buzzell,*          \ 

1826 

8 

Samuel  Burbank,* 

1826 

3 

Samuel  Burbank,*    > 

7 

William  Burr,* 

1829 

3 

Samuel  Beede,* 

1833 

I 

David  Marks,* 

1832 

3 

William  Burr,* 

1834 

32 

William  Burr,* 

183s 

31 

George  T.  Day,* 

1866 

9 

Silas  Curtis, 

1866 

I 

George  F.  Mosher, 

1S7S 

L.  R.  Burlingame, 
I.  D.  Stewart, 

1867 
1873 

6 

EDITORS  OF  THE  MYRTLE. 


EDITORS  OF  THE   LITTLE   STAR. 


Rev.  Elias  Hutchins,  1845      2       Rev.  G.  T.  Day,  1873 

Rev.  Joseph  Fullonton,  1847      7       Mrs.  F.  S.  Mosher,  1874 

Rev.  G.  T.  Day,  1854 

Rev.  M.  J.  Steere,  1857 

Prof.  M.  L.  Morse,  1858 

Rev.  J.  M.  Bailey,  1866 

Miss  A.  E.  Jenness,  1870 

Mrs.  E.  S.  Burlingame,  1873 

Mrs.  F.  S.  Mosher,  1875 


J  THE    HELPER. 

7^       A  Bi-Monthly  Missionary  Journal — 
3^  1878. 

3       Published  at  Providence,  R.  I. 

2       Mrs.    J.   M.   Brewster,    Editor    and 
Publisher. 

(266; 


DATE  DUE 


.v^    4  ^;    "• 


BX6373.C39  ^    _         ,, 

The  centennial  record  of  Freewill 


Pnnceion  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1   1012  00035  6925 


